


All In Good Time

by GameGrumpsSexbangFangirl



Category: Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-05-30 01:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 62,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6403063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GameGrumpsSexbangFangirl/pseuds/GameGrumpsSexbangFangirl





	1. Chapter 1

You were standing in line to get a damn coffee, that's all. You were on break, there was only twenty minutes left until you had to get back to work. It was a shit job, organizing patient files at the local hospital, but hey, money is money.  
"Jesus fucking Christ." You mumbled under your breath, you were highly agitated. There were three cash registers but only one was open, which was highly ridiculous because there were multiple employees standing around doing nothing behind the counter.  
"I know right." The man in front of you said. Was he talking to you? Doesn't matter though, fifteen minutes left and the line hasn't moved an inch. You looked back to see the line stretching on behind you, probably gonna start going down the block soon.  
"I'd have better luck hopping over the counter and making my own dang cup." He shouted over the people in front of you, probably to the person working the counter. He was tall, so you couldn't see over him, and the line wasn't even orderly, so you couldn't see around them either.  
"I could come back in two hours and they'd only have served two damn people." You laughed and then covered your mouth, not wanting it to seem like you were listening. He turned around to look at you and smiled.  
All you could see before was his black leather jacket and a mop of curly hair that was ruffled and disorderly. But when he turned around all you could look at were the beautiful brown eyes that he had, you couldn't look away. And his smile, oh gosh, your heart skipped a beat when he flashed it towards you.  
"I'm being so freaking serious right now lady, this line is horrendous." You nodded, obviously knowing this information, as you were standing in this horrendous line.  
"Oh I know." You rolled your eyes and he laughed. He thought you were joking, but this was just ridiculous. Five minutes left on break and you haven't even moved an inch forward.  
"Hey, maybe there's another coffee shop around, you wanna try one of those out?" You shook your head, and looked at your phone. Five minutes left of break. You still have to get into the building and sign in.  
"I've gotta get back to work, thanks for asking though." He pouted as you got out of the line and everyone shuffled forward. You didn't know why anyone would even wait this long for coffee, it wasn't even that good.  
You walked out of the shop and a gust of wind caught you off guard, like a cold wintery bitch slap to your face. Zipping up your coat and wrapping your scarf around your face to avoid a Rudolph nose you made your way down the streets of New Jersey. The hospital was only a couple blocks away and it wasn't a bad walk to get down to the coffee shop but now the wind was blowing straight in your face making your eyes water.  
You heard someone running up behind you, you couldn't be bothered with it though, not having much time to get up to the hospital had you in a hurry, and any type of lateness came off of your check.  
He showed up in your peripheral vision, the man from the coffee shop. Sort of creepy, he was cute, but now he was following you, not so cute.  
"Hey, how's it going?" Was he trying to make small talk? What could he possibly want?  
"Good I guess, I'm going back to work and I'm going to be late." Checking your phone as you said this, yup, definitely late. Only two minutes late as of now, but your boss throws a conniption fit if anyone is a second late, so you're fucked and you're mentally preparing yourself to enter the inferno.  
"Well, I was just wondering about that coffee thing, I mean, I didn't mean right now, but maybe some other time?" His voice got higher and higher in pitch as he ended his sentence, and if you weren't in such a shitty mood, you might have just smiled to him.  
"I dunno, I'm pretty busy." And you were, you had to work your ass off to pay for your apartment, and on the side you were trying to begin the project that you hoped would soon become your job and your livelihood.  
"Too busy to get a coffee with me?" You both were stopped at a crosswalk, the red hand on the sign across the street counted down the time until you could be on your way again.  
"I don't even know who you are." He looked down at you, he looked shocked.  
"Well, I'll have you know, I am Danny Sexbang, singer in the band Ninja Sex Party." He said this like you should know what the hell he was talking about.  
"Danny Sexbang? Ninja Sex Party? Never heard of either." His eyes got wide and you folded your arms across your chest, your inner sass showing through in the way that you were standing.  
"Uhm, wow. It's the greatest band in the universe, so, maybe you should give it a listen." He wiggled his head, jokingly mirroring your sassiness.  
"Well what does 'Danny Sexbang' sing about?" You put air quotes around his stage name and he laughed at your question.  
"Well, I sing about dicks and sex and stuff, hence the name Sexbang. Also you missed your chance to walk, and you're probably super late by now." You checked your phone, completely ignoring the beginning of his sentence.  
"Fucking shit, she'll be livid, and I don't want to deal with that." You could just call out, you haven't used a sick day since you got the job, so calling out near the end of your shift shouldn't be bad, or maybe it could be, ugh.  
"Well, how about going to get some coffee and you could think about it then?" He was so hell bent on getting that coffee so you just shrugged, it was pretty foolish to agree to getting coffee with a complete stranger who says his name is Danny Sexbang, but you were just too stressed to give a crap.  
"Fine, we better not be going to that damn shop again though." He laughed and placed his hand on your back and started to lead you down another street. It was full of people, so he couldn't even try to do anything in an area crowded with people.  
"Of course not, there's a shop down here, it barely has people in it. Best coffee in Jersey." He stopped in front of a tiny shop, you looked in the window and saw an older couple sitting at one of the five tables, they were the only people in there.  
He opened the door and a tiny bell rang as held it open for you to go in first.  
The people at the counter looked up and when they saw him they smiled, like they knew him.  
"Ah Dan! Welcome back, you want the usual?" Dan nodded to them and walked to the counter, his hand still resting on your back bringing you with him to the counter.  
"What do you want?" He asked you and you shook your head. You didn't want him paying for your drink, even if it was cheap, you didn't like when people bought things for you.  
"I'll get it." You pulled your wallet out of your purse and Dan sighed.  
"Two black coffees, for here. Thank you." He pulled a five out of his wallet and handed it to the man behind the cash register, then told him to keep the change.  
"Come on, sit down." You huffed and puffed as you followed him to the table on the other side of the shop. You slumped in your chair, you were being childish, but you had told him that you would get your own, and he completely ignored you.  
"I could have gotten my own coffee and paid for it." You said it in a shitty way, letting him know that you were agitated. He raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head.  
"What kind of man would I be if I let my date pay for her own drink?" His date? What the hell is he even talking about?  
"This isn't a date, I just met you. We're acquaintances, and you shouldn't have bought me my coffee." He moved his hands from behind his head and put his elbows on the table and rested his face in his hands.  
"Well, deal with it, it's already done. What are you gonna do about your boss or whatever?" You had forgotten about that problem until he brought it up again, but shrugged. What did he expect you to do? You weren't gonna make a serious phone call in a public bathroom, that was just gross.  
"I'll just call her when I get back to my apartment. So, back to you, what's your real name?" You copied what he was doing, your faces were about three inches away from each other, but none of you moved back, the closeness didn't seem to bother either of you.  
"Dan Avidan. How about you? What's your name?" He was staring deeply into your eyes, completely fixated on you.  
"_____ _________, any other questions? I've asked a bunch, so it's only fair to let you ask a few." He nodded, then held up a finger as he got up out of his chair. Your eyes followed his as he walked over the counter to retrieve your coffees. The way he walked was a lanky stride. He placed the coffees on the table and brought grabbed the canister holding the sugar packets and creamers off the other table and set it down next to our canister.  
"Where do you work?" He asked after he took a sip of the coffee.  
"I organize patient files in at the hospital. Why did you bring over the other canister of sugar and cream if you drink yours black?" He set his cup down and licked his lips.  
"I don't know how you take your coffee, don't know how much sugar or cream you use. Gotta be prepared." You were already pouring your fourth packet of sugar into your cup and you had five creamer cups lined up to be poured in next. He nodded toward your pile of empty sugar packets. "Like I said, gotta be prepared. So, do you like your job?" You took a sip of your coffee, it still wasn't to your liking so you set it back down on the table and pulled a couple more sugar packets a creamer cups out of the container. Dan watched intently as you poured them into your coffee.  
"If I liked my job I would have just went in late, I wouldn't be sitting here having coffee with you." He nodded and you took another sip of your coffee, it still wasn't sweet enough, but you dealt with it. By the time your were done getting it prepared it would have been cold, so you sipped on your bland tasting coffee waiting for another question.  
"What do you like to do?" You thought over the question, you liked to do a lot of things. But he probably meant in a working matter, so you thought more.  
"I like to play video games or write. I want to be known, you know. I don't want to be remembered as the girl who spent her whole life in a filing room organizing documents. That shit isn't fun." He laughed and you tilted your head in confusion. What could he possibly think is funny now?  
"Well, if you start a gaming channel I'll be sure to shout you out, get you some subs." He laughed again and you rolled your eyes.  
"When I'm able to afford all the equipment to even start a channel like that." It would be expensive and you'd have to work your whole life to afford the stuff you'd need.  
"Not really, if you'd like I could help you kick off your channel. Plus, it'll be way easier if your start with game reviews, and then make a side channel for actually playing games. You'll do great!" Why was he being so nice? It didn't give you a weird vibe, it was just strange that people could be so nice. You've dealt with a lot of assholes in your time, so this was quite unusual.  
"You'd help? How would you do that?" He gave you a look, kind of like a 'duh' look. Like you should know what he meant.  
"I'll help you with your gaming reviews, and the shout outs and stuff. Plus I'm a nice guy, I'm always down to help." You nodded, deep in thought. This could work, it really could. He had to have a lot of subscribers, and if he was on your channel and shouted you out, some of those people could subscribe to you and you'd be able to get a little bit of a head start.  
"Well, thank you, thanks a lot really." He flashed you a smile, that beautiful smile, the one that stopped your heart and pulled out his phone.  
"Maybe I can get your number so that we can set up a day to get this thing started?" You smiled back, it wasn't as big of a smile as his was, but it was the best you could do. You told him your number and he put it into his phone and then a minute later you got a text. He was looking at you expectantly, he must have been the one that texted you and he was waiting on you to check your phone. He most likely had texted you so that you could get his number and have it saved in your phone as well.  
You pulled out your phone, all he had said was 'Suppppp', the amount of p's seemed to be redundant, but you unlocked your phone and added his number into your contact book.  
"I should probably head back home now so I can call my boss..." You hadn't realized until then that you had been there for an hour and a half already, and your boss is going to be beyond pissed at your lack of responsibility.  
"Yeah, oh man, sorry for keeping you for so long. Do you need a ride?" What was up with him? Was he always so nice? I mean, you had carpooled with a coworker who lived in the same complex as you, so you didn't have a ride.  
"I can take the bus, it's not too far." The bus wasn't so bad, and there was a bus stop a block away from your apartment, so it wouldn't be horrible.  
"Nonsense, the bus doesn't come back around this way for another hour. Plus, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be on the bus, let alone waiting at the bus stop for an hour." You blushed at what had seemed to be a compliment, as you knew he was sort of right. But then again, you shouldn't be getting rides from men that you had just met that day.  
"I don't know..." You were hesitant to take up the offer. You still knew very little about him, and you feared what could possibly happen.  
"I'll even let you drive, do you know how to drive?" You gave him the same 'duh' look he had given you earlier and he tapped his hands against the table rhythmically before sliding his keys across the table to you. "Will this make you feel better?"  
"I guess..." Being able to drive made you feel slightly better, knowing he wouldn't be able to drive you to some secluded dark alley when you were the one driving.  
You got up and grabbed your coffee, it would have been rude to throw it away when it was barely drank, no matter how gross it tasted. You could easily sweeten it at home and heat it back up.  
You walked with him to his car, you were twirling the keys around your finger, and he was giggling. He had probably thought you couldn't hear him so you decided not to react to it. He stopped at his car, it was a small four door black sedan. You hit the little button on the remote control on the keychain and walked around to the drivers side and climbed in. He was already in the passenger side and buckled in, and when you got in you looked around the car. It wasn't dirty, but it wasn't spotless. There was an empty water bottle in the cup holder and notebook paper that had been thrown to the back seat at some point. You put on your seatbelt and started the car, you don't know why you were so nervous. Maybe it was because you had never driven anyone else's car but your own. You had the same type of car though, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. You adjusted the mirrors so that you could see out of the back and you moved the seat up closer to the steering wheel.  
"You gonna just fuck up the whole setup of my car?" He jokingly asked and you sighed.  
"It's not my fault you're so damn tall, your seat was too far back, I could barely reach the pedals." He laughed loudly and patted your shoulder.  
"It's okay, not everyone can be so awesomely tall." You laughed and started driving. The joking conversation had eased your nerves so completely that you forgot why you were even nervous in the first place.  
"Oh yeah, it's so awesome being able to reach all the shelves at the grocery store." You gave him the side eye and he was smirking, most likely thinking of a comeback.  
"Damn straight, I know for sure you wouldn't be able to reach the top shelf." You nodded in agreement and he busted out laughing.  
You pulled into a parking spot at the apartment complex and fished your wallet out of your purse. You found a ten in your wallet and tried to hand it to him, to pay him back for the coffee and for gas.  
"No, I refuse to take it." He folded his arms across his chest and looked out his window, it was quite childish. You put the ten in his sun visor and opened up the door and got out. He did the same thing and met you around on your side.  
"I'll text you and set something up, you're gonna be huge." You nodded and he got in his car and drove off.  
You walked into the complex and waited waited outside of the elevator for it to get to the bottom floor. You thought about what he said about you being huge, it seemed impossible right now. 

 

~~~~~~~~~2 Years Later~~~~~~~~ 

 

You were living in LA now. You constantly thought back to the when to how you had gotten this far.  
Meeting Dan in the coffee shop had been a god send, and you had worked with him for nine months, he was the reason you got as far as you are now.  
He moved to LA a year ago, and after that he stopped keeping in touch with you, and although it hurt, you knew that it was purely a working relationship with him. He helped you get on your feet, and when he saw you were good he left to pursue his music career in California. You occasionally checked his channel, he was doing great. You were proud of him and everything he achieved in the short year that he had been here.  
You had achieved a lot too, you reached 500,000 subscribers on your gaming channel and 1,000,000 on your review channel. You had started dating Barry, the editor for the Game Grumps about three month ago. You contacted him about a week after you moved to LA to ask him about editing, you only expected a Skype call to sort of help you out, but he ended up wanting to meet up to "show you how it's done" as he had said. It became a weekly thing, and you both hit it off really well. 

You were sitting at you desk working on the finishing touches to your latest video when Barry came in and slumped down on your couch. You looked up from your screen, waiting for him to say something, when he didn't you went back to working on your video. It was better not to ask, if he wanted to talk about what was bothering him he knew he could come to you.  
"Hey, so you know how Jon said he was leaving?" You looked up from the screen again, giving him your full attention.  
"Mmhm, did you find someone to take his place on the show?" He nodded and you rolled your chair out from under the desk and got up to go sit next to him on the couch.  
"Yup, we've been talking to Arin's friend, he did some animation on one of his videos, and the guys super cool, so we chose him. Jon's gonna be gone in a week though." You understood completely how they all felt. Jon was leaving so he could work on his show, and everyone was proud of him, but you all would miss him. You'd gotten to meet him on several occasions when Barry would take you out to lunch with the Arin, his wife Suzy, and Jon. They mostly talked about the show, and they would recommend games for you to play on your own show. Jon was a nice guy, sort of loud, and quite funny, so him leaving had upset you too, not as much as the rest of them, but enough to allow you to sympathize with them all on the situation.  
"Are you guys having a farewell party thing?" You had heard something about one from Suzy, but you didn't know if it was a solid plan yet.  
"Oh yeah, the new guy is gonna be there too. Him and Jon are good friends too, so it won't be awkward or anything. It's gonna be on Friday, you think you can make it? We'd all really like it if you could." You had videos to edit and more videos to record, but it's Monday, and if you could just get it all done by Thursday night you could go and make your fans happy. It would be hard, and you'd have to stay up late every night just to get it done, but it was worth it.  
"Hm, I'll try. Just gotta get some stuff done." Barry grabbed your hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of it.  
"You work too hard, I can help if you need me to, don't be scared to ask." You weren't scared to ask though, you just knew that he had as much work as you did being the editor for the Game Grumps videos and you didn't want to put another show on top of that.  
"Im fine." Okay, maybe you weren't, you were constantly exhausted and you drank more coffee than any human should, but you were happy with your life and the people that were in it, and that was all thanks to the line of work that you were in. So although it drained you physically, you wouldn't change it for anything.  
"Can you at least take a break? Just for a day. You're constantly falling asleep, everywhere, you fell asleep at your desk while you had food on the stove, it's becoming dangerous." You bit your lip and looked down at your hands which were still in his. You had nothing to say, it was dangerous at times, but you had practically given up on cooking meals now and relied on coffee and Pringles for sustenance. That also wasn't healthy and you knew Barry didn't like how hard you worked yourself, but you couldn't do anything about it.  
"Barry, you know I can't just take a break. I have things to do." He moved his hands up to your face and you looked up to his. He kissed you softly and ran his thumb across your cheek.  
"That's what I'm here for, just one day, for me, please." You sighed and finally agreed to taking a break. "Good, now, you want to go get some dinner, I'm famished. We can go to In and Out or Sonic, whatever you want."  
"I've got to finish editing my video..." He looked at you, a warning. Dinner was one of his ways to get you to take a break. "But I'll finish it when I get home."  
"No you're not, you're gonna get into your bed with me and we're gonna go to sleep, you can work on it tomorrow." You slapped your hands down onto the couch and pushed yourself up, you were unable to argue with him, especially when he looked at you with those big blue eyes.  
You slipped on your shoes and walked out of the front door which he had opened for you.  
You lived in a quaint little apartment complex with four floors. You lived on the second floor in an apartment on the other side of the hall.  
It was a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, and that was enough for you right now. Your front room was your living room in the front and your computer desk was set up in the back against the wall. Your kitchen was probably the largest room (aside from the front room), it had everything you needed. The rent was cheap, so it was perfect for you. 

Barry held the elevator open for you and three other people. They were your neighbors, pretty nice people, they had helped you bring in your furniture when you first moved in. They smiled kindly at you and Barry as you waited for the elevator to go down to the bottom floor.  
You and Barry walked out and he pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his car. It was stifling hot outside, California in June was like being in a sauna at the highest temperature even in the evening, and it was literal hell. The walk to the car shouldn't have had you sweating bullets as if you had just ran a marathon, but when you finally got in the car you turned the AC on high and allowed it to blow on your face for a couple minutes.  
"It's just going to get hotter in the next two months." Barry said as he backed out of the parking spot and you slumped down in your seat. "I'll get you one of those handheld fans." He grabbed your hand and held it as he drove.  
"So, are you gonna tell me about the new guy or is it going to be a surprise?" You asked, trying to make casual conversation.  
"I think I'll just let it be a surprise for you, unless you really want to know." He smiled over to you and you shrugged. It wasn't really a big deal for you to know, as long as it didn't affect your work.  
"Eh, I'll wait till Friday. Are we going to In and Out?" It was right up the street and it was closer than Sonic, and you were more hungry than you'd ever admit to Barry.  
"If you want to." He looked to you for an answer and you gave him a quick nod letting him know that it was what you wanted to do.  
He pulled into the left lane and waited for the light to turn green so he could pull into In and Out.  
"You want drive-thru or do you want to go in?" You didn't really want to go in so you suggested the drive-thru. He never disagreed with you unless it was something that affected you physically or mentally. He wanted to keep you happy, not that he didn't do that already. "What would you like?" You thought for a second and decided on a regular cheeseburger with everything on it and he got the same thing with a large side of fries and you both got large cokes. He pulled up to the second window and the girl at the window told Barry how much it cost and he gave her his credit card. When she handed it back she finally looked down at him and when he grabbed his credit card back she slid her hand across his and it made you feel uncomfortable. He wiped his hand on his shirt and when she handed him the bag of food he grabbed it from the bottom so that her hand wouldn't touch his and when she handed him the drinks he handed them both to me. When she finally noticed me in the car she rolled her eyes and bitchily told him to have a nice night.  
He pulled into a parking spot to check the bag and then handed me my burger and put the fries in one of the cup holders.  
"You alright with eating here?" Always asking for your acceptance, it was sweet, but sometimes you wished he would understand that whatever he did was alright with you, and he didn't always have to ask you if it was okay.  
"Of course, so are you sleeping at my place tonight?" It was alright if he didn't, you'd be able to stay up and finish your editing, but you also liked when he stayed the night. Cuddling up next to him was something you looked forward to whenever he told you he would stay the night.  
"Mmhm-" He said while chewing his burger. You took a bite of yours, it was delicious. You had gotten so used to the taste of Pringles and coffee that even the taste of a fast food burger was like heaven.  
You both finished your food and drove off back towards your apartment. It was quiet and Barry had turned off the AC and rolled down the windows which was a lot more refreshing than you thought it would be. He had turned on some music as background noise and the ride back was peaceful. You looked out the window and watched the streetlights as they went by, dimly illuminating the streets below and the few people who were still out walking.  
He pulled into the parking lot of the complex and Barry quickly got out to open your door for you. You thanked him as you got out and you walked hand in hand into the apartment.  
"Are you tired?" You asked him as you waited for the elevator to get to the bottom floor and he shrugged.  
"I guess, why?" You looked down at your feet and you heard him sigh in defeat. "An hour, I'm giving you an hour to finish editing your video. If it's not done you can finish it tomorrow. You need sleep." You looked up to talk and he cut you off. "Falling asleep at your desk doesn't count." You looked back down at your feet and you heard the elevator ding as the doors slid open.  
Barry grabbed your hand and pulled you in. He wrapped his arms around you and you laid your head against his chest. The sound of his heart beat was soothing and you felt yourself slowly falling asleep to it. You fought to stay awake, but he pet your head, almost as if he was trying to get you to fall asleep.  
When the elevator got to your floor you pulled away from his chest and yawned. He grabbed your hand and led you to your door and he unlocked it with the key you had given him earlier this month.  
"Come on, you're too tired to edit tonight." You tiredly tried to walk over to your chair at your computer but he kept his arm wrapped around your waist and basically dragged you to your room.  
You flopped down on your bed and pouted at him. He smiled and leaned down to kiss you on your forehead. "I'm doing this for you, you know that." He helped you slide out of your shirt and slip out of your pants, he knew that you liked to sleep in just your underwear after staying the night multiple times. He did the same and climbed into your bed and you slipped under the blankets with him.  
You turned to face him and trailed your fingers up his chest, his neck, finally resting your palm against his cheek and leaned in to kiss him. You pressed your body against him as he kissed you back, you felt him getting hard through his boxers and he inhaled deeply before pulling away.  
"Mmph, not now ___, I want it to be perfect, and it won't be if we're both tired." You sighed and laid flat on your back, you didn't want to push him or force him to do it, it's not like you needed it, but it's something that you wanted. But if he wanted to make it perfect you wouldn't fight against it. He always wanted to make things romantic and just right for the both of you. "I want to just as much as you do, but I want it to be just right. Now let's go to bed." He kissed your temple and wrapped his arm around you pulling you back against his chest. You dozed off slowly, peacefully in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, so I'm taking a break from "All I Know" due to the fact that I've ran out of ideas at the moment for that fiction.   
> So I've started this cause I'm bursting with ideas for this fiction, and I've also realized that people love detail so it's gonna be full of that.   
> Most of the chapters for this fiction are probably gonna take a little bit of time to come out though due to the chapters being so long and they're being written over a span of several night.   
> But, as always, I hope you enjoy. <3

You woke up in the morning and rolled over to see that Barry was gone. You yawned and ran your hand through your hair as you got up out of bed. You slipped on a long t-shirt and walked out of your room, you looked around and saw that your apartment was empty. You sighed and went back into your room and made your bed, then rummaged through your dresser to find a pair of sweatpants, t-shirt and underwear. You needed a shower to wake you up fully and then you could get back to editing for the rest of the day.   
You unclasped your bra and slipped out of your panties and kicked them over to the pile of dirty clothes that we're building up next to your closet. You made a mental note to go to the laundromat tomorrow as you walked past it and to the bathroom. You turned on the shower allowing it to warm up as you looked through the hall closet for towels.   
The front door opened and Barry walked in with two cups of coffee.   
"Oh, oh jeez, I'm sorry-" He quickly set the cups down on the table next to the couch and shut the front door while covering his eyes.   
You laughed and held the towel in front of you so that it would be less awkward for him. He was blushing a deep red and he grabbed his cup off the the table and took a long sip. "I was gonna take a shower, are you leaving now?" You still had the towel held up in front of you and you decided to stay next to the bathroom door, not wanting to make him any more uncomfortable by coming closer.   
"Uhh, Uhm, yeah, gotta get down to the office." His eyes wandered around the room, trying to look at anything but you.   
"Alright, have fun. You coming back here afterwards?" He nodded and walked over to you. You were sort of shocked, he was usually so shy when you were fully naked, but you weren't going to stop him. He put his hand on your lower back and pulled you against him, it sent a chill up your spine and your head was going crazy. You felt lightheaded as he leaned down to kiss you, it wasn't a kiss you were used to. There was passion behind it, a force from him that you weren't accustomed to at all. You sighed and he took this opportunity to slip his tongue in and it glided across yours. You had forgotten about the towel and you let it go to wrap your arms around his neck. You didn't want him to pull back like he always did, a natural reaction from him that you expected. He didn't pull away though, he led his hand slide down to your butt and he pushed you against the wall. You were out of breath, and when he realized this he finally pulled back. The towel fell to the floor and instead of looking away he smiled and you saw his eyes travel up and down your body.   
"I'm definitely coming back here afterwards." You gave him a sheepish smile and he kissed you one last time, a small peck on the lips before he grabbed his coffee off the table and walked out the door.   
You picked your towel up off the floor and walked back into the the bathroom, your mind was cloudy, you could only think about that moment with Barry. It was the most intimate experience you've had with him, and you were hoping that it meant that maybe tonight was the night.   
You got into the shower, thankfully the water hadn't gone cold yet and you had time to wash and shave, preparing for the night that you hope and wish would happen. It's not like you were expecting it though, not at all. Barry could easily change his mind, and you wouldn't fight him on it. It was very common of him to make you think one thing was going to happen and then do something completely different all together, but that still didn't deter your mind from thinking about what you wanted.   
You wrapped your hair up in a towel and slipped on your clothes, heading out to the front room to start up your computer and grab the coffee that Barry had left you on the table. You made another mental note that you'd buy dinner tonight when he came over.   
You walked back over to your computer and saw that WordPad was open. You hadn't remembered opening it last night and it only had a couple words on it. Barry must have gotten on your computer before he got the coffee, it said "Don't over work yourself today, please." You sighed and dragged the mouse over to the X in the top corner and clicked "Don't Save" when the notification box popped up.   
You needed to work twice as hard today due to Barry not letting you work last night. Your video needed to be finished and uploaded by this afternoon and you needed to record a video and have that edited for tomorrow. You couldn't take breaks, and although it got tough, you knew that it was the job you wanted. You didn't give up when things got hard, you always found light in everything. This is the job you've always wanted, and at the end of the day you were happy. Watching your subscriber count go up and all the likes you got on your videos made everything worth it.   
You finished editing your video around 12, it had only taken you three hours. You had done all the hard work and more in depth editing yesterday before Barry came over. You saved it and then began the rendering process.   
While it was rendering you made yourself a pot of coffee, you had finished the cup that Barry had brought you half way through editing.   
You set up your video capture software while the coffee was brewing and got Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask loaded up. You walked back into the kitchen and poured yourself a cup of coffee and your phone chimed on your desk. It had been completely silent aside from the slight hum of your computer and the sound of your phone made you jump.   
You walked over to your computer and picked up your phone, it was a text from Barry.

**How's your day going?**

**Good, just finished editing my video and I'm about to start recording a new one. How's yours?**

**Editing and editing and more editing. The usual. You better not be over working yourself. Did you not see my note?**

**I seen it, I'm not over working myself.**

**I'll be able to tell when I get there. Just, take breaks okay. Everyone will understand.**

**Gotcha, gotta get back to work. I'll see you later.**

**See ya later <3**

  
Always worrying, you could have said the same thing about his working. But you knew that it wouldn't make him worry any less about you, he would have found a way to turn it back around on you. He never worried about his working because he was used to it, he scheduled everything and edited and he still wasn't as tired as you were.   
You sat back down at your computer, the opening song to Majoras Mask playing in the background as you got on YouTube to upload the video.   
You got up and walked over to the couch and made sure everything was working properly. Barry had given you one of the microphones to use for your own videos, and he had taught you how to set up the video capturing software multiple times, so it didn't take you that long to get everything up and running.   
It was your first time playing Majoras Mask on your channel and you were thinking about making it a series on your show.   
It was your favorite Legend of Zelda game out of all of them, and you had beat it numerous times growing up. You knew that the play through wouldn't take that long to complete since you already knew what to do and where to go, but the fans had asked for a Legend of Zelda game and at the moment it was the only one you had. You'd have to run to the store to get more games soon since you were running short.   
You wrote down the time that you started, another thing that Barry had told you to do, to keep track of when you started, and when you took a break, and when you finished. Barry often looked over the times, again to see if you were running yourself into the ground with all the work you did.   
You made sure to take a little break this time, just to get up and use the bathroom and get another cup of coffee. You ended what would be the first video and jotted down what time it was then. It would make Barry happy to see that you took a little break, knowing all to well that most of the time you just did your little "next time on..." And then jumped right into the next episode.   
He always told you that it was supposed to be a fun job, and that the fans would understand if a video didn't come out at the exact time planned, but it wasn't just for the fans. You liked things to be ready ahead of time, you liked to get the videos out fast and on time because it made you proud of yourself, knowing that you did it all on your own and were still able to get everything done on time. Maybe you had a little bit too much pride, too much for your own good. It would be the death of you someday, and that's maybe why Barry tried to get you to take breaks and ease up on the amount of work you did. He was trying to change you for the better, and maybe that's what you really needed.   
You finished recording the second episode and decided to work on the next two episodes tomorrow. Easing up on the amount of work would make Barry happy, and you could get started on editing the first episode of Majoras Mask for your channel. Barry would be coming over in four or five hours so you'd be able to get a lot of work done in that amount of time. You could work on the thumbnail and adjusting the sound so that it was distributed evenly and your voice wasn't over powering the sound of the game. You were a perfectionist when it came to these kinds of things. Most of your time went into watching your video and then editing out things you didn't like or editing in things it needed. You'd sometimes watch your video up to ten times during your editing process. It became boring, repetitive, and sort of aggravating when things didn't line up perfectly.

You were just about to get up for what had to be your seventh cup of coffee today, not including the one that Barry had gotten for you this morning, when he walked through the door with a large pizza box. He was early by an hour or two, so you didn't have the chance to get dinner this evening, and he never called to tell you when he was coming. It wasn't a problem, not really, it just changed your plans sometimes.   
"Surprise! I got pizza!" He held up the box before setting it on the coffee table and walking over to lean against the back of your chair. "So what did you do today?"   
"Same thing I always do, record and edit. I'm guessing you did the same thing." He chuckled and kissed the top of your head before walking into your kitchen to get two paper plates from your cabinet. You saved the video, it would most likely need another thirty minutes of editing until it was ready to be rendered and uploaded.   
"So, are you staying the night tonight?" You still were thinking about this morning and what happened. It made you feel tingly, like little bursts of electricity were running through your veins.   
"As much as I'd love to, Jon needs help packing his things cause he's moving out Thursday." You nodded and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box. All morning and afternoon you had hoped that tonight would be the night, but again, you were left to only think and dream about what it will be like, and now you'll be alone with your thoughts. "Unless you really want me-" you shook your head and set your pizza aside.   
"You need something to drink?" He nodded, he was chewing slowly, it was noticeable that he was deep in thought and the best thing to do was to leave him with his thoughts right now.   
You walked to your kitchen and reached into your refrigerator to retrieve two water bottles. Water was the only other drink you had in your apartment, but it was healthy, so that was a plus.   
You walked back into the front room and placed his water bottle on the table next to him and grabbed your plate and went back to your computer to work. If he wasn't going to be here tonight you could get more work done.   
"What are you doing?" He asked, still sitting on the couch. You didn't bother to turn around and look at him when you answered.   
"I'm working, why?" You didn't hear him come up behind you, so when you felt the hand on your shoulder it made you jump a little.   
"I know you're upset that I can't stay the night, but with Jon moving out soon, he's my best friend, I need to help him." You nodded, that wasn't what you were upset about, not at all. He spun your chair around and put one hand on each arm rest. "What's wrong?" You pursed your lips and dropped your eyes to your hands. You were twiddling your thumbs and he put his hands on top of your to make you stop. "Look at me, please... I'm not a mind reader ____, you need to talk to me."   
You looked up at him through your eyelashes, you felt like you were going to cry and you honestly didn't know why. It's not like sex was the most important thing to you, maybe it's just that you felt led on and you had planned a whole scenario, how it was going to go down tonight, and everything that was going to happen and Barry had basically shit on your plan because he had to help Barry pack. You weren't going to tell him that though, it would be wrong of you, completely pathetic actually, to make him feel bad for helping his best friend get ready to move out. You weren't his top priority and you never asked to be it, you knew he had other people and other things in his life to worry about and for you to be reacting this way was totally ridiculous. So you decided to give him a partial lie.   
"I'm just PMSing I guess, my period is due soon, I'll just miss you. You know, the monthly shit gets my hormones all out of whack." The period thing was true, you were due to get it in the next couple of days, it was something that you dreaded. It made you more tired than usual and you became a giant bitchy crybaby. You'd start arguments with Barry for no reason, and then cry when he got annoyed with the way you were acting. He's starting to understand though and get used to it, he'll bring you chocolates and flowers to try to sweeten you up. You would miss him though, he's slept over your house almost every day since last Friday, he said it was to give Jon time to pack all of his personal things, but tonight he was helping Jon pack his games and his consoles and his computer and all the electronic things that needed to be handled with care.   
"Oh, oh ____, I'll come by first thing in the morning tomorrow before I go to the office, and I'll stay here tomorrow night. I'll bring you chocolate doughnuts, your favorite." Already starting with the chocolate bribery. After your period would end you'd be completely sick of chocolate and you wouldn't eat it again until the next time your period came.   
You remembered that tomorrow you had to do laundry, and you'd probably have to go out shopping for pads and tampons, so you decided to just get the things you needed to make a home cooked meal since Barry already said he'd stay here tomorrow night.   
"Are you going to stay here a little bit longer, or do you have to leave now?" You didn't really want him to leave now, you were hoping that maybe he could stay at least thirty more minutes.   
"I can stay a little bit longer. I wanna see how your editing is coming along." He liked to see how far I've come along, and it gave him great joy to know that every thing I know about editing was learned from him. You liked to show him how well you've done, like a teachers pet likes to show their teacher all the work they've done. You liked to be praised by Barry, to know that he was proud of you and everything you can do. You never thought you were better than anyone else though, it was never about being better. It was more about showing people that you could do it, you could do anything as long as you set your mind to it.   
Barry always checked on your latest uploads, even when he was right next to you watching you edit them. He liked to watch the views go up, and sometimes in the beginning most of the views came from him alone.   
"Well, this is what I got done for my first episode of my play through for Majoras Mask..." You opened up the movie file and waited for him to put on the headphones. You clicked play and let him sit down in your chair and decided that while he was watching you'd clean up the small mess from dinner. You put the pizza in the fridge, you'd be able to eat that tomorrow instead of Pringles. You trashed the paper plates and left Barry's water bottle on the table and took little sips from yours in between wiping down the table and throwing away napkins and other little pieces of trash that had built up from previous days. You'd have to schedule a cleaning day in between your working, your apartment was becoming disorderly and was driving your OCD crazy.   
Barry placed the headphones down on the desk and came up behind you as you were washing the pizza cutter. He hugged you from behind and rested his chin on your shoulder.   
"You're doing such a great job, it's really nice that you talk about your childhood and what the game means to you." He kissed your neck and you sighed, placing the pizza cutter off to the side on the counter.   
"Yeah, I guess it's easier for me to talk about that, cause I'm not funny so I can't make jokes cause people would think I'm lame..." He laughed and turned you around, still keeping his arms around you.   
"I think you're pretty funny." You rolled your eyes and walked with him back over to your computer. He sat down first and you say on his lap, his arms were wrapped tightly around you. It made you feel safe, it was comforting.   
"I'm only funny when I'm around other people though. I can't laugh at my own jokes." Barry nodded and kissed up and down your spine. You felt his phone vibrate underneath you and he sighed while leaning his cheek against your back.   
"That's probably Jon, are you gonna be alright tonight." You got up off his lap and he got up with you so that he could keep his arms around you.   
"I'll be fine." Your voice broke at the end and you cleared your throat. He turned you around and pulled you against his chest.   
"If I finish early I'll come back over and join you in bed." You shook your head, it would be no good. He'd probably walk in on you editing and it would make him upset knowing that you stayed up late to finish your video.   
"Jon probably wants to spend some time with you, I'm not gonna keep you from doing that. I'll be fine, I promise." He kissed your forehead and backed up to look at you fully. You put on a fake sheepish smile, anything so he wouldn't feel bad. He shouldn't feel bad, he's known Jon longer than you, and just because you were his girlfriend shouldn't make him put Jon on the back burner for you.   
"I'll come over in the morning with the doughnuts. Get some rest." He kissed you one last time before leaving, once again you were on your own. He had only been here an hour and he was gone again.   
You weren't the jealous type, but you knew that if it were under any other circumstance you would be hurt, and you'd be pissed. But he was helping Jon pack, you had no right to be mad or upset about this. Jon was your friend as well, and being a good friend sometimes meant you had to do things that you didn't want to do.   
So you sat back down at your computer and opened up your editing software. It was only 7 pm, you'd hopefully be able to finish editing the video entirely by 3am, unless you got really tired. But being tired wasn't on your agenda, and since you had time to get some work done without Barry hassling you about your sleep schedule, you'd be stupid to not take advantage of that.   
You double clicked the movie file that was to be the second episode, and while that was loading up you decided to make a pot of coffee. The aroma filled your apartment, it smelt delicious. You already had your cup ready sitting on the side of your desk.   
You had written down everything that Barry taught you, different things that command keys did and what to click and where to click, and pretty much everything that he knew about editing was sloppily jotted down in a spiral notebook that was placed next to your coffee cup.   
You were finishing your third cup of coffee when the urge to pee hit you full force. You habitually saved the video, you had the constant fear that your computer could turn off at any second, so you constantly saved and saved as.   
You ran to the bathroom and when you sat down you realized that you had gotten your period already. "Son of a bitch." You mumbled under your breath as you turned on the shower and stripped out of your clothes. You hated being on your period, it made you feel gross, and you were prone to get heavy periods, so that only made it worse.   
You ran to your room to get another pair of underwear and a set of pajamas, then tossed those on the counter next to the sink. You were hoping that you had some pads left, you had a full box of tampons, but you couldn't even use those until the last two days of your period. You reached into the cabinet under the sink and luckily found that you had two left to last you until you went to the store tomorrow morning.  
You placed the pad next to your clothes on the counter and got into the shower. It felt nice, but as usual the shower made you tired. You knew you wouldn't be able to fight the sleep, it came full force.   
You got out of the shower after thirty minutes in there, a quarter of that thirty minutes was you just trying to keep your eyes open long enough to rinse the conditioner out and the soap off of yourself. After getting dressed you walked back to your computer desk, knowing that you wouldn't be able to finish the editing, so you just shut off the computer. You decided to just lay on the couch, it was black leather, so if you bled through your pants -which you hoped that you didn't- it would be able to just be scrubbed off, unlike your sheets which were a pristine white, and you'd have to bleach them if you bled through.   
You grabbed a spare blanket out of the hall closet where you kept the towels and draped it over the couch, then went into your room to grab a pillow off your bed. You turned on the tv to some boring channel and turned off all the lights and laid down on the couch. It wasn't as comfortable as your bed, and the pillow kept sliding across the leather, and altogether it was just agitating. But you finally were able to fall asleep, the smell of Barry's cologne was on the pillow and it helped you fall asleep a lot easier.

  
You were startled awake to the sound of your door opening, you opened your eyes and were immediately blinded by the sun that was now illuminating the room. You didn't feel like you slept that long, but you rubbed your eyes and squinted to see who was at your door.   
It was obviously Barry, you felt dumb for even wondering who it could have been, he was the only one who had a key to your apartment, and he had promised that he would come over in the mornings   
"Good morning sleepyhead, sorry to scare you. I didn't think you'd be sleeping on the couch... I got you doughnuts though, and I think I have enough time to sit down and eat one with you." He placed to doughnut box on the table in front of you, and you yawned and laid back down on the couch. It was too early to even think about food and you were cramping, but you didn't know whether it was from the couch or from your period.   
Barry moved to sit down with you on the couch and you lifted your feet up slightly and when he sat back down you rested your feet on his lap. "I'm sensing that you got your period. But hey, I got you roses, I can put them in a vase for you before I leave so you don't have to get up." You hadn't really payed attention, but you didn't have to see them to know they were there. Chocolate and roses, like you said. Peace offerings so you wouldn't argue with him for no reason, and whenever you felt the urge to, you'd look at the roses and you'd feel guilty for even thinking about it.   
He rubbed your leg through the blanket and you yawned again. You didn't know if you'd be able to get any work done today. You didn't even know how you'd be able to get up to go to the laundromat to wash your clothes, let alone go to the store to get the things you needed. Thankfully you had finished the editing for the first video that was supposed to be uploaded, and you should have enough energy to sit down at a computer desk and upload a video to YouTube. But getting up to go to the store was another story, you didn't even have the energy or motivation to get a doughnut out of a box, how the hell would you be able to get out the door looking halfway presentable. It just wouldn't happen.   
"Are you going to be okay? I don't have much work to do today, I can stay here and help you." The thought was nice, but you didn't want him falling behind on his own work just because you couldn't handle your menstrual cycle.   
"No, no no no, I'll be fine." Another cramp started in your side and you let out an audible "mmph" and bit your lip. The whole bleeding thing was fine, not really, but you could handle it. But the physical drainage and the cramps were hell.   
"I'm staying here, they don't really need me today, and they can just email me the videos and I can edit them on your computer if they really need me to. Do you need anything?" You were embarrassed to tell him what you needed, although he knew that you were on your period, you just weren't comfortable with having him run out to get the things that come along with having it. You were usually prepared for this,, but you had been so wrapped up in editing and recording it had completely slipped your mind that you would be getting it soon.   
"I Uhm... I need..." You didn't even like saying the word aloud around him, but he must have already known what you were talking about.  
"I gotcha, extra absorbent, already know that. Anything else?" He was honestly a gift, you didn't know what you would do without him.   
"Acetaminophen, that should be it. Thanks a bunch Barry." He grabbed your hand and kissed the back of it before shifting out from under your feet.   
"Anything for you, dear. Call me if you think of anything else in the next five minutes." You watched as he left and heard the elevator ding from down the hallway.   
You sat up and grabbed a doughnut from the box and nibbled at it. It was always nice to have something other than Pringles and coffee, and soon you found yourself eating another one. You had to stop yourself, knowing that if you ate too much you'd vomit and that's something that you sure as hell didn't want to do right now.   
You got up and wrapped the blanket around you like a cape and walked over to your computer. It would be a good idea to maybe try to get some editing done while you felt a little motivated to do something. You'd be tired soon, and you didn't want to disappoint your fans with being behind on a video, so you'd just have to fight through the tiredness.   
You logged in and opened up the software, it had automatically loaded up the video that you were editing last night. You immediately started working on it, if you were to get up to make the coffee that would take energy, and you needed all of your energy to go towards editing. Once you got into work mode you couldn't really snap out of it, which was a good thing and a bad thing at times.

Barry came in soon after you started editing. As soon as he saw you working he sighed and placed the bags on the floor near the door. You hadn't noticed he walked in until you heard him shut the door. You spun your chair around to greet him with a smile, but he didn't look pleased.   
"I'm here so you can take a break, from everything. I already called Arin and he said that its cool that I stay here today, but I didn't call out so you could edit. So get up." You tightly wrapped the blanket around your shoulders and stomped over to the couch.   
"Happy now!? Jeez, if I wanted a parental guardian I would have just brought my Dad to California with me." You slumped down on the couch and grabbed the pillow that you used last night and hugged it close to your chest.   
"Maybe you should have brought your dad, maybe you'll actually listen to him." You weren't used to him talking back, you were taken aback. You threw the pillow to the side and got up to go to your room. You didn't need his shit right now.   
"Just leave, I don't want you here." He followed you to the bedroom and leaned against the door frame as you climbed into your bed and covered your face with your blanket.   
"I'm not leaving, but when you decide to stop being childish I'll be on the couch." You heard his footsteps get further away and you kicked the blanket off of yourself. You didn't want him to be mad at you, and you quickly cooled down and got up out of the bed and stood outside of your bedroom.   
"Barry..." You said it quietly, but he heard you and turned to look at you. "I'm done being childish, but can we talk in the bedroom?" He smiled, it was weak, but he nodded and got up from the couch and you grabbed his hand and walked with him to the bed. He sat down first and pulled you down onto his lap.   
"I'm sorry for being rude, I just, I don't like when you tell me to stop working. I need to do it, I need to get my work done." Barry sighed and rested his forehead against your back. "I know you want me to take a break, but I had motivation to do something and I wanted to use that time to do something productive."   
"I know, I know, but I'm here to help you. I could have done the editing for you, or at least uploaded the video that you finished yesterday while you rest. You don't understand how much I care about you, but I want you to at least try so that you know why I'm constantly on you about it." You nodded, you knew he cared about you, maybe not the extent to which he cared, but you knew he did. "I'm sorry about what I said though, I didn't mean to be shitty, I just get agitated, so... How about we go sit on the couch, turn on a movie, and just chill for a little bit. No work, no interruptions, just me and you." You wished that you could get this type of undivided attention when you weren't on your period, wished that he would take a day off and spend all day with you when you weren't bleeding profusely. You felt like shit, you looked like hell, and you honestly couldn't fathom how Barry was able to look at you or want to spend the day with you when you looked this way.   
Barry moved to get up and when you tried to get up and surprised you by lifting you up in his arms, and carrying you out to the living room. You didn't realize how strong he was, but not once did he struggle or take a break, or even lose his footing. He carried you easily to the sofa and carefully sat down on the couch with you on his lap again.   
"So what do you want to watch?" You turned to look at him and jokingly tapped your chin. He knew that your favorite genre of movie was horror and he absolutely dreaded when it was your turn to pick a movie. You made him watch every single Friday the 13th, and he slept with you every night after watching them. Well, you slept, he stayed up on his phone watching funny cat videos so that he wouldn't be scared. But the last pick was his, and he always picked comedies, which got old to you. So you picked Halloween 1, and you planned on having him watch the whole series, it was your favorite.   
"Ugh, you know I don't like these movies." He leaned his head against the back of the couch and you laughed, his utter disapproval of anything scary amused you.   
"The first one isn't even scary, they couldn't even afford fake blood in this one."   
"That's not even the problem, he freaks me out." The last time you brought up a Halloween movie he had insisted you pick anything but that. Apparently Michael Myers scared the living shit out of him.   
"You can't say no again, please Barry, it's my favorite!"   
"Alright alright, if it'll keep you off the computer I'll do it." You clapped your hands together, and hugged him tightly.  
"Thank you! Oh, I've got collectors edition of all the movies on my shelf over there..." You pointed over to where you kept all your DVDs. "It's the very first one in the box, with the knife going through the-"   
"Yeah yeah I know." You scooted off of him so he could get up and get the DVD. "Of course you'd have the collectors edition." He mumbled as he walked over to the shelf. All the DVD cases were lined in order in a little box of their own, and when he saw how many there were he turned around to look at you. "We're not gonna watch all of these, are we?"   
"Well we could, we have enough time. Then you can pick the next eight movies when we're done watching all of these." You saw him contemplating your deal, and then he smiled.   
"Alright, fine." He pulled the DVD case out of the box and walked over to your xBox and slipped the CD in. He grabbed the controller off one of the other shelfs, flicked off the lights, and sat back down on the couch. You laid your head on his lap and he let out a quiet "mm". You were content, glad that everything had blown over so quickly. Barry wasn't one to hold grudges, and he didn't like when you were mad or upset, and you didn't like when things were awkward between the two of you, so you'd both try to resolve things soon after they happen. It was a good thing though, because your relationship was going strong, and you honestly loved every second you got to spend with him.   
"Barry?" He looked down at you, the movie had started, the opening credits were fading in and out of the screen, the famous jack o lantern glowing beside each name, the Halloween theme was playing and Barry already looked scared. "No falling asleep, it won't count."   
He smirked and planted a kiss on your forehead, and you both turned back to the screen just as the first scene began.


	3. Chapter 3

  
"I'm gonna have nightmares for a damn month ____." You and Barry had shifted to laying across the couch, you were in his arms and he had propped his head up on two of your decorative couch pillows. He had stayed awake through the whole movie, and you still had time to watch at least two more before you had to get back to work.   
"Come ooonnn, don't you want to watch another one?" You rolled over to face him, smiling widely. It was a rarity to actually be able to just lounge around and watch movies with him. Most of the time you watched movies at night, and one of you would always fall asleep.   
"No, no I don't..." You started your typical pouting and puppy dog eyes. "Buuuuuut, I'll do it for you."   
"Yay, you're the greatest!" He pulled his arm out from under you and shimmied his way to the end of the couch so he could get up without you having to move.   
"Which ones next?" He asked as he ejected the cd and placed it back in its case.   
"The next one in the box, silly. It's got the mask and Laurie in the eye of the mask. It's a good one, it honestly creeps me out a bit." He sighed heavily as he put the first case back in the box and pulled out the second one.   
"Great, this one must be horrifying if it creeps you out." He placed the case off to the side and put the second movie in and retrieved the controller off the table. You couldn't wait for him to watch this one, it's way scarier than the first one, and you contemplated whether you should watch the third one or move to the fourth one and save the third movie for last, since it had absolutely nothing to do with Michael.   
Barry climbed over you so he could take his place laying back down. The movie had started, Mr.Sandman by the Chordettes was playing and you softly sang along with it. Barry pulled you closer to him as the last scene from the first movie played again.   
"Oh shit... Where is he?" Barry whispered in your ear during the scene where Doctor Loomis ran out the front door to find Michael missing.   
"I dunno, you'll just have to wait and see." You giggled and Barry rolled his eyes.   
The opening credits came on, the theme playing, you had learned to love the song instead of being scared of it whenever it played. After watching the movies at least eighty times, you found yourself sometimes whistling the song while doing laundry or grocery shopping.   
"The pumpkins splitting ____, what's in the... What the fuck is that!? It looks like the damn silence from Doctor Who!" You patted his arm which was wrapped around you. It was like your way of saying "shush, watch the movie" without having to actually say it. You didn't like when people talked through movies, especially the ones that you loved.

The amount of times Barry jumped and screamed and shouted at the TV for Laurie to run was hysterical. It made the movie so much better when you watched it with someone who was easily scared.   
You decided to give Barry a break before jumping into the next movie, and you hadn't realized how much time had slipped away until you checked your phone. You needed to upload your video and do a little bit of editing so you wouldn't fall behind. Tomorrow was your last day of editing before Friday, you would be helping Suzy set up hers and Arin's house for Jons goodbye and the new guys welcoming party.   
"I've gotta upload the episode and do just a little bit of editing." You emphasized the "little bit" so that hopefully he'd be okay with it.   
"Okay, I'm gonna go get some snacks, you want anything?" You shook your head no and got up. Your muscles had all tightened up after laying on the couch for almost two and a half, maybe three hours. You stretched and your back cracked, it felt great, but Barry was-as always-worried about your wellbeing. "Maybe you shouldn't do the editing, just lay on the couch, that didn't sound-"   
"Barry, please. My back cracked, it's not broken, it doesn't hurt, yours does it all the time when you get out of bed in the morning. Do you want me to start telling you that you shouldn't go to the office because your back cracked?"   
"I don't know, maybe... If I get to spend all day with you it would be worth it." He wrapped one arm around you and pulled you in for you kiss while his other hand cradled your face.   
"Possibly, there's a bunch of horror movies that we could watch." He patted your cheek and backed away.   
"I think I'll have my fix of horror movies after today, I'll be set for life." Although you both were joking, he was probably right. He wouldn't want to watch another horror movie for a long time after this. Maybe you'll just move to romantic movies after you're done marathoning Halloween.   
"Go, go get the snacks. We don't have much time and we have six more movies to watch!" You playfully pushed him towards the door, you both were laughing hysterically about how hard it was for you to do it.   
He opened the door and walked out, but turned around quickly to give you one last kiss before actually leaving. You watched him get in the elevator and when the elevator doors shut you closed the door and walked to your computer. Maybe you'd have enough time to get some work done and take a shower.   
You uploaded the first episode of Majoras Mask to YouTube and started working on the second episode. You realized that you'd have to work twice as hard tomorrow to get the third episode out by Friday morning. Just the thought of it made you tired.   
Barry had been gone for over twenty minutes and you had shockingly gotten a lot of work done, you weren't entirely finished, but twenty minutes had gotten you halfway through the second episode, meaning you wouldn't have a lot to do work on tomorrow before uploading it. You decided to take a shower, so you grabbed the bags that Barry had dropped off earlier near the door and took them with you to the bathroom. You had wondered how weird it must have been for Barry to buy you pads, and you felt that you should apologize to him for putting him in such an awkward position.

You were in the shower, and you had only been in there for a few minutes when you heard a knock on the door.   
"Come in!" You shouted it so that Barry could hear you. The door opened, and then it shut again.   
"Just letting you know I'm back. Glad to see you haven't been working the whole time I was gone. I got a bunch of snacks, hopefully they'll last us through all six movies. Maybe we can order some Chinese or something later on."   
"Yeah, that'll be good. I'll be out soon." You moved back the shower curtain a little bit to see him sitting on the counter, he sheepishly smiled at you. He was on his phone, probably texting Arin about his day. You wondered if he had told him about the horror movie marathon I was making him watch.   
"Do you want me to leave?" He slipped his phone back into his pocket and slid off the counter.   
"No, you don't have to if you don't want to." You didn't have a problem with him being in there with you, you were just having casual conversation. It wasn't awkward for you, and it must not have been awkward for him or else he would have left already.   
"Alright... D-do you need help?" You didn't understand what he meant, it didn't seem like you needed help, did it? It's not like you had fallen or hurt yourself.   
"Help with what?" You peaked out the shower curtain again to see him staring up at the ceiling. He didn't see you look, so you went back to washing the shampoo out of your hair.   
"You know... In the shower..." It was a strange question, not the question itself, but who it was coming from. Especially since he'd ask this while you were on your period. But maybe it wasn't for sexual reasons, maybe he just wanted to take care of you in every way he possibly could.   
"Yeah, if you want to." You weren't going to deny his help, especially since it seemed so hard for him to say it. Saying no would probably mean waiting longer for what you wanted. Maybe him helping you in the shower would make him want it as much as you did.   
The shower curtain slid back a little bit and Barry got in. It would be a lie to say that you weren't nervous, and you were actually feeling a bit shy. You couldn't find it in yourself to turn around to look at him, but you couldn't just stand there with your face under the stream of water. Maybe the heat of the water had made your face red enough so that he wouldn't notice that you were blushing.   
"Hey, you alright?" He ran his hand down your arm and back up to your shoulder. You bit your lip and finally turned around. "Mm, just like I remember from yesterday... Couldn't stop thinking about it..." He wasn't speaking directly to you, he was just saying what was on his mind.   
You looked him over, you were used to seeing his bare chest, as he slept in just his boxers every night when he stayed at your place. You weren't surprised at how big he was, you had felt it poking against you often while he was in bed with you. He laughed when he finally realized what you were looking at, causing you to look back up at him. You knew for sure that you were blushing brighter than ever, even the heat from the shower couldn't hide it.   
"I-I'm sorry..." Was all that you could say, and for what you didn't know. For once it was you making things awkward, not him.   
He pulled you against him, and you felt his cock getting hard against you. It turned you on and you were upset that you had to be on your period right now. The only thing that would be nicer than seeing him like this would be feeling him inside you, and at this moment you wanted that more than anything.   
You didn't know if it would be taking things too far just to touch it, it was weird how much you wanted to. So you placed your hand on his chest and slowly trailed it down, it made him shiver slightly. You looked down to see that his cock was fully hard now, and you lightly stroked it with your fingers, he let out a throaty "mmph".   
"_____, I came in here to help you..." You moved your hand away and he moved his hand to yours, intertwining his fingers between your own. "It's not that I don't want to-"   
"Yeah, I know, waiting for the right time, got it." He raised both of your hands and brushed the back of his against your cheek.   
"What do you want to do?" You didn't understand the context of the question. He knew what you wanted to do. "I'm not going to stop you this time..." You bit your lip and he took a deep breath as you got down on your knees in front of him.   
"So if I were to do this-" you wrapped your fingers around his cock and slowly stroked it. "You're not going to stop me?" You looked up at him through your eyelashes. His head was tilted back slightly and his eyes were closed.   
"Not at all..." He was breathing heavily already, and when you sped up your stroking his knees started shaking.   
You made small circle motions with your tongue around the head and then slowly eased all of him into your mouth. "Oh- shit" his voice was shaky, his breathing was rapid. His dick twitched in your mouth and you pulled away to smile up at him.   
"You alright?" He nodded and put his hands on the back of your head, his fingers lacing their way through your wet hair. You took this as a sign to keep going, so you dragged your tongue across the length of it and then put it all back in your mouth, wiggling your tongue across it still.   
He shuddered and started moving your head back and forth at a fast pace, you liked him taking control like this, it turned you on, and if you hadn't been on your period you would have already pulled him into the bedroom.   
"Fucking- I'm gonna-" he pushed your head down onto his cock, taking all of him into your mouth again and you felt the warmth of his cum squirt down your throat. He was shaking and you felt his fingers detangle from your hair. "Sorry..." He helped pull you back up to your feet and you looked at him closely.  
"Why are you sorry, did you not like it?" You saw that his eyes were wandering and you were worried that he didn't enjoy himself like you had enjoyed doing it.   
"What? Of course I liked it! I'm sorry that I finished so quickly, I just couldn't-" you shushed him and wrapped your arms around his neck and smiled. He wrapped his arms around you and kissed your forehead before resting his cheek against it.   
"Don't apologize for that, it's fine. I had fun." He chuckled softly and pulled you closer.   
The water got cold, bringing a loud gasp out of you. Barry reached down to turn off the faucets and opened up the shower curtain for you. You hadn't realized how long you had been in there, but the water doesn't go cold quickly, so you had to be in there for over an hour. You grabbed your towel off the counter and wrapped it around yourself while Barry opened up the bathroom door to get a towel for himself.   
He came back into the bathroom and grabbed his clothes off the floor before kissing you and retreating into the bedroom. You stood unmoving for a minute, thinking about just how perfect that moment was and wondering if Barry was thinking about it as well.  
You got dressed and walked out into the front room to see Barry was lounging across the couch in his boxers. You smiled to yourself and walked over to your movie shelf pulling Halloween 4 : The Return of Michael Myers out of the little box.  
"Already starting the next movie?" He had the controller and his arms were outstretched, a gesture for you to come take your place next to him.   
"Don't want to waste no time. There's still four more movies left after this one." He wrapped his arms tightly around you and nuzzled your neck.   
"That's alright, I'm perfectly content right now." He kissed your cheek before starting the movie.   
The opening credits started, the eerie music playing along with the common pictures you'd see at Halloween, scarecrows and creepy decrepit Halloween decorations dangling from what looked like a shack.   
It got to the scene where the paramedics were wheeling Michael out on a gurney and you heard Barry inhale deeply. You smiled to yourself, already knowing what would come next, and you waited for Barry's reaction.   
"Oh god! He's... The movie just started!" He had paused the movie to get your full attention. You rolled over to look at him and he looked completely shocked by the fact that a horror movie would have killing in it.   
"Would you rather stop watching it and save the last five movies for another day?" You were expecting him to say no and just deal with it, but instead he sat up and pulled you up with him. He held your hand as you both walked to the bedroom.   
"Let's just take a nap, huh? I think we've done enough movie watching for the day, and you've been busy..." He winked at you, he was laying in your bed, the blanket folded back, he was waiting for you to climb into bed with him. "I think a nap would do us well, and I'll let you edit when we wake up." You shrugged and crawled into the bed next to him. You weren't exactly tired and neither was he. You both laid there staring up at the ceiling.   
"So, you were alright with what happened in the shower?" You asked, not wanting him to feel like things were being rushed. He would often back off for a couple days if he felt like things were going too fast, just to let things slow down.   
"Huh...? Oh, hell yes. It would be stupid of me to say no... I didn't think that I needed that, but damn, it was great." He rolled over on his side and traced your jawline, and the shape of your lips. When you smiled he rested his palm on your cheek. It was cute shit like this that always made you feel like shit if you ever got mad at him. He was just a big ball of sweetness and warmth, and you knew that if he wasn't there you'd crumble. No matter how frustrated you'd get when he'd tell you to stop working, you knew that you'd crash and burn from exhaustion if he didn't.   
You decided to take this opportunity to ask a question that you really wanted the answer to. He had never been specific with how long you'd have to wait, but after the shower you were hoping you'd get an answer. "So... Do you think that, maybe soon, it'll happen?" You didn't know if he'd understand what you were talking about, but you assumed he did when he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. You were ready for his typical no, and him wanting to wait.   
"Probably, I mean, I didn't know how much I wanted it until you did that... And it would be rude of me to not return the favor. When you're over your period we'll talk more about it." He kissed you firmly on the lips and laid back down. You were excited to say the least. He was so gentlemanly, while at the same time so fucking sexy. You couldn't wait to talk about it more, you would finally be getting what you wanted.

You woke up with horrible cramps an hour later. You hadn't remembered falling asleep, and you turned your head to see that Barry was still sleeping, so you got out of bed slowly and went to the front room to get an Acetaminophen. You ended up shaking out four of the nasty white pills, and in an effort to ease the excruciating pain in your pelvis you quickly chased the four pills down with your water that had been sitting on your computer desk next to the bottle of pills.   
You sat down at your computer and opened up the editing software. You tried to click and type as quiet as possible so Barry wouldn't wake up. Today had been a great day for you, and Barry had achieved in sidetracking you to make sure you didn't edit for long enough, but now it was time to get some work done.   
You had been editing for a while, forty, maybe fifty minutes when out of your peripheral vision you saw Barry emerge from the bedroom. He had gotten dressed at some point and you continued editing, trying to finish up the last bit of what you were doing before Barry started complaining.   
To your surprise though, he didn't complain. He stood behind you, watching over your shoulder, it made you self conscious, but you were also glad that he hadn't told you to stop.   
He pulled one of the chairs from the kitchen next to your desk and started helping out with the editing, giving you helpful tips that he hadn't told you about yet.

You ended up finishing the second episode, it was like a weight had been lifted. You now had all day tomorrow to record the third and fourth episode in the series, and you'd be able to make a quick video for why you can't upload Friday.   
You realized that Barry was right, that your fans would understand if you couldn't get a video out on time, or if a video was still being edited. Your fans knew you were one person, and you were the only person editing and recording. They had often praised you for working so hard, and some of them even had Barry's mind frame and said that you shouldn't work so hard. After realizing this you felt a lot better about taking the little break Friday and joining Barry and everyone else in welcoming the new guy in the Game Grumps and saying farewell to Jon. It would be a nice little break for you and you couldn't wait.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~Friday~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The sun was shining through the window in your front room, you were still sleeping on the couch, although your period was slowing down. You rubbed your eyes and stretched, swinging your feet off the side of the couch and pushing yourself up.   
You had a long day ahead, helping Suzy get the office ready for the little party you all were having, getting yourself ready, and sticking around for the party that would probably last into the early morning hours was going to be tough for you. Even though your period was dwindling and almost close to its end, it was still draining and you still felt tired all the time, and your cramps were still just as bad as they were Wednesday.

You had gotten all your recording done yesterday, you were proud of yourself as you had gotten four new episodes recorded instead of your usual two episodes. After recording the episodes, you made a quick vlog to tell everyone that there will be no new video Friday (today) because you'll be busy. You were happy with the way the fans reacted, the majority of them saying that it's okay and that you deserve a break. You felt at ease, and a lot better with not being able to record or edit today.   
Barry had gone out with the guys to have a few drinks before Jon left California, so he wasn't able to spend the night like he did Wednesday, but he texted you all night. He would ask what you were doing and if he felt like you were working (which you were) he'd tell you to stop or take it easy.

You folded the blanket and draped it over the back of the couch then took the pillow you had used back to your room.   
While in your room, you decided to pick out your clothes for the party. You wanted to look good, but you also wanted to be comfortable.   
You picked out a plain black low cut v-neck and dark denim skinny jeans. You'd wear your black Toms to finish it off. You weren't one to accessorize, but you could pull off the Plain Jane look very well.   
Setting them onto your bed for later, you picked out your "getting ready" clothes, a pair of sweatpants and a large t-shirt that you often used to dye your hair. It had speckles of all different colors on the back, some were pink and blue from when you went through your scene kid phase (you didn't like to talk about it) and others were brown or black or burgundy. You dyed your hair too many times to count and you had finally decided to just stay with your natural color once your roots grew out.   
You got in the shower and quickly shampooed and conditioned and shaved and washed yourself. Your hair took forever to dry, so you had to be quick so it would be dry enough to style later.   
You got out and dried off before getting dressed before going back into the front room to check your phone. Suzy had texted you 15 minutes ago.

**Hey, just letting you know that Arin and Barry are keeping the guys busy so that you and I can get the office prepared. You think you can make it by like 5?**

It was only 11:30, so you'd hopefully be able to get yourself ready by then. You quickly texted her back.

**5 is great, do you need me to bring anything? Food, drinks?**

You set your phone back down on your desk to make a pot of coffee. You'd need a lot of caffeine to get through today.   
You weren't really in the mood to go out shopping, but you didn't want to be rude and not bring anything.   
Your phone vibrated, Suzy had texted you back.

**Oh yeah, maybe beers or something. You can pick what you want. I got sodas and water for the non-drinkers and I already made some food, but if you want to pick up snacks it's up to you. Thank you so much!**

You sent a quick smiley face back to let her know you got her text and sat for a little while longer. It wouldn't be too bad going out to get drinks and some snacks.   
You got up to go start on your makeup, you went with a light smokey eye and winged black eyeliner and pale pink lipgloss.   
After you were done, you stared at yourself in the mirror for a little bit. It had been a while since you did your makeup, you either hadn't felt like it or you just didn't have the time.   
You blow dried your hair, curled the ends, and styled your bangs. You couldn't lie, you looked good. You were proud of yourself, for being on your period you still had enough energy to get yourself ready.   
You walked back into your room and changed into the clothes you had set out earlier. There was still a couple hours to just relax, have a cup of coffee, watch a movie or show, something to pass the time before you had to get to the store.   
You lounged across your couch and flipped through the channels, you ended up just watching the Weather Channel, cringing at the temperatures for the week. Mid to upper 90's, and Barry said it would just get hotter. How the hell could people bare it?   
Your phone vibrated, it was Barry. You got excited, you couldn't wait for him to see how you looked. You decided to keep it a surprise, he was so used to seeing you natural and your hair was always in a ponytail or in a sloppy bun on top of your head, he would be shocked to see you look so done up.

**> Hey, just letting you know I miss you. How's everything going? What have you been up to?**

**> I miss you too. Everything's great, I just got done getting ready for later. I'm gonna have a cup of coffee and go to the store.**

**> Ooohhh, did you do your makeup?**

**> Yes I did, and my hair.**

**> I wanna seeeee!!!!!!**

**> Later, it's a surprise. :)**

**> Finee. Me and the guys are gonna hang out for a little bit. See ya later.**

**> See ya!**

You tossed your phone to the side and got up to get a cup of coffee. You were bored to say the least, and whenever you were bored you felt the urge to smoke a cigarette. You kept a pack in your purse for situations like these, Barry had asked you to quit and you shocked yourself when you immediately cut down and then altogether quit in a month. You had upped your coffee drinking though, but you were willing to do anything to keep Barry around.   
You reached in your purse and pulled a cigarette out of the pack along with your lighter. One cigarette wouldn't be bad, and you'd smoke it outside so Barry wouldn't smell it in the apartment.   
You grabbed your cup of coffee and your phone and went down to the front of the apartment complex.   
It was relaxing, sitting there taking long drags from the cigarette, and although it was hot, it wasn't unbearable.   
You finished it quickly and went back up to your apartment. You finished your coffee and brushed your teeth before checking yourself over one lag time in the mirror.   
It was 12:30, you decided to get the shopping done and get to the office early. You grabbed your purse and made sure you had everything you needed before leaving again. You locked your door and were on your way.

You went to the grocery store first to get snacks. You didn't really know what to get, but you liked Doritos so you got the Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese flavored ones. You got cookies and pretzels and plain potato chips.   
Next you went to the liquor store to get the drinks. People were staring at you as you got two twelve packs of Bud Light and a variety of wine cooler flavors. You got a six pack of twisted teas and angry orchard Apple cider beers. That seemed like enough, and people were still staring as the cashier rung up everything. The amount it cost was sort of high, but nothing would go to waste, so it was worth it.   
After everything was secure in your car you took a second to text Suzy.

**Hey, is it cool if I come early?**

You had spent an hour and a half at both stores going up and down aisles looking for the right stuff to get. The drive to the office would take another thirty minutes, so you'd hopefully get there by 2:30, 3:15 at the latest.

**Yeah of course! We'll have some girl time!**

You smiled at the thought of "girl time". Your life has revolved around your work, and when you weren't focused on that, you were with Barry. It wasn't a bad thing, but sometimes you needed some girl time.

**I'll be there in thirty minutes! :)**

You started your car and started the drive over to the office. Traffic wasn't too bad, but it still would take you a little longer to get to the office than you hoped. While at a red light you went through your phone to find some music. You plugged the aux cord into your phone and turned on your Mystery Skulls playlist. The bass rumbled through the car and you nodded your head to the beat. You were enjoying yourself, even if the cars in front of you were inching forward at turtle speed, it was nice car ride.   
You pulled up to the office at 3:20 and texted Suzy to tell her you were there. She came out a minute later, she was done up as well. Apparently you both had thought the same thing.   
You got out of the car and opened up the back doors. You and Suzy grabbed the bags and you shut the door with your foot and struggled to push the lock button on your keychain.   
"Were you already here?" You asked as you followed her into the office.   
"Nope, but when you said that you were going to come early I was already done getting ready. I was just playing with Mochi and Mimi." You had seen Arin and Suzy's cats on multiple occasions and you absolutely adored them. You weren't allowed to have and animals in your apartment, other than a fish m, so you enjoyed being able to see the cats whenever you could.   
The office was really quiet and it was weird to see it so clean. During the few times that you would come in with Barry, laughter would echo through the room and styrofoam trays with half eaten burgers of Chinese food would be on desks.   
You and Suzy placed the bags down on the long table and started pulling the snacks and drinks out.   
"Holy shit _____, got enough alcohol?" Suzy laughed and you shrugged.   
"I hope so." You laughed along with her as you both set aside the snacks and drinks. You would get those out last.   
"I have all the decorations and stuff in my car, you wanna come down and help me get them?" You nodded and Suzy led the way out to her car. It was loaded with Party City and Target bags. You both tried to grab as many bags as you could so you wouldn't have to make a second trip to the car.   
Your fingers were sore and when you and Suzy got back into the office you both dropped the bags to the floor and sat on the couch to take a break.   
"So, do you know who's going to be here?" Suzy asked, trying to make small talk.   
"Nope, is it going to be a lot of people?" You didn't like being surrounded by people and you hoped that it wouldn't be too many people.   
"Eh, not really. Probably one or two other people. They're really nice though." You nodded and took a deep breath.

  
~~~~~~~~Later That Evening~~~~~~~

  
The office looked like a birthday party were about to happen. There were streamers and balloons and Suzy had made a cake. You had set out the snacks and the drinks before you and Suzy did one more once around to make sure everything was in place.   
"Hey, the two other guys are here. Do you mind letting them in?" Suzy was adjusting some of the decorations and you walked to out to open the door for the other guests.   
The first guy you saw was tall, his hair looked to be jet black and he wore glasses. You immediately realized this was Markiplier. You watched his videos often and he smiled at you as he walked into the office.   
"Hey there, I'm Mark. I don't think I've met you before..." He held out his hand and you reached yours out and he gave you a firm handshake.   
"I'm ____, nice to meet you." You gave him a smile and he smiled back. You don't know why, but it felt weird meeting other youtubers, especially ones that were more famous than yourself.   
"Nice to meet you ____." You nodded and watched as he walked through the doorway into the office.   
The next man who came in was smirking, his hair was a dirty blonde color. He seemed like he was in a bad mood.   
"Hi, I'm Ross." He said and walked past you to the office. You exhaled loudly through your nose and walked back into the office space.   
Mark was helping Suzy with one of the decorations and Ross had already helped himself to one of the beers.   
Suzy walked off for a second and when she came back she was grinning widely.   
"They're here!" She shouted. You didn't really know what to do with yourself, should you just stand there? You decided to sit at the table with Suzy and Mark. Ross was sitting on the couch drinking his beer.   
Barry and Arin came in first, they both came over to you and Suzy. Jon and the new guy came in next.   
"SURPRISE!!" You all shouted. Jon looked around and the new guy looked over to you and everyone else sitting at the table.   
You immediately remembered him, it was Dan. He smiled at you, that smile from the coffee shop. Did he even remember you?


	4. Chapter 4

"You look gorgeous, I'm glad you kept it a surprise." Barry whispered in your ear. He kissed your cheek before grabbing a beer and going over with Arin to talk to Jon, Dan, Mark, and Ross.   
"Dan's the new not so grump?" You asked Suzy quietly.   
"Oh, you know him?" She looked surprised, but she probably wasn't as surprised as you were at the moment.   
"I met him at a coffee shop like two years ago. He's the main reason I'm here right now." He hadn't changed in the least. He was wearing the same leather jacket that he wore that day in New Jersey.   
"Oh my god! That's awesome ___. Wait, were you two like, dating?" She was most likely asking this to make sure it wouldn't be awkward between you, him and Barry. You shook your head no and she sighed in relief.   
"We were really good friends. I don't think he recognizes me though." You had spoken too soon though, Dan had removed himself from the group and went to sit with you and Suzy at the table. Barry watched him out of the corner of his eye but continued talking with the rest of the guys.   
"Hey Suzy, thanks for all this. It's totally awesome." He smiled at her and she wrapped her arm around your shoulder before answering.   
"Well, ____ helped too." His eyes lit up when she said your name.   
"____! I didn't even recognize you. You look beautiful. Wow, this is crazy. Are you going to be on the show too?" He was talking super fast, and you laughed lightly.   
"Oh, no. I'm Barry's girlfriend, that's actually the main reason I'm here. If it weren't for him I wouldn't know any of these people." His eyes had dropped down to his hands as soon as you said you were Barry's girlfriend.   
The truth is, you had dated Dan, but not very long. You both had went out for a month until he said he was moving to California, and you told him that it just wouldn't work and he had agreed.   
"Well... Barry's a very lucky guy. I'm glad you're happy." He sounded sad, which was upsetting, you didn't like seeing him like this. He grabbed a beer and got up to join the guys again.   
You rubbed your temples and felt the need to smoke a cigarette. You felt awkward and you needed to calm yourself down.   
"I'm gonna go outside for a second, if Barry asks just tell him where I am." Suzy nodded as you got up. The guys had moved to the couch, their backs were turned to you, so Barry wouldn't notice that you left.   
You grabbed your purse off the table and walked outside, putting your purse between the door so it wouldn't shut fully. You lit a cigarette and leaned against the brick wall.   
It was strange, even with all the stress of work you didn't feel like you needed one, but now you craved it. The smoke filled your lungs and you held it in as long as you could and exhaled through your nose slowly.   
"Hey..." You turned and saw Barry standing next to the door. He was holding your purse and keeping the door propped open with his foot. He watched your hand as you lifted the cigarette to your lips to take a long drag. "You alright? Did I do something?"   
You shook your head no and sighed, throwing the half smoked cigarette on the ground, squishing it out with your shoe. "I just needed some fresh air, I'm fine."   
"Why did you need the cigarette though?" He looked at the flattened cigarette on the ground and back to your eyes.   
"I was bored..." You said as you started walking back towards the door. Barry stopped you and leaned his head against yours.   
"You know that I love you right?" He had never said it before, and you sort of wished that he saved it for another time, but you liked hearing it. It exited his mouth like a sigh, long and breathy. A deep whisper that only you would hear. Your heart fluttered in response.   
"Yeah.." You were still in shock that he had said it, and you didn't really know how to respond. You knew that you loved him, you just couldn't form the words to say it back.   
"Did I say it too soon?" His eyes shifted from side to side and the blush that had once been in his cheeks drained quickly, leaving his face looking pale and ghostly in the light of the moon.   
You rested your hands on each side of his face and kissed him softly.  
"Not at all, I love you too." He wrapped his arms around you tightly and kissed you, it wasn't as soft as your kiss had been, but you enjoyed it none the less.   
"That's all I needed to hear, now let's go back inside." He took your hand and you both walked in together.  
Dans eyes followed you both and you saw his chest rise as he took a deep breath. You shouldn't have felt bad, but you couldn't stop yourself from thinking about how this must have made him feel.   
You sat at the table again, you were by yourself this time as Suzy had joined the guys to talk about some Game Grumps related things. You started reminiscing about that time with Dan that had seemed so long ago.

_Dan was leaving in two days, he had offered for you to go with him to California and stay with him, but you just couldn't leave everything behind, not yet. You still worked in the hospital, not as much as before, but it was a back up job in case the whole YouTube thing didn't work out._   
_Dan texted you to tell you he was outside and you slipped on a hoodie and your shoes and went out to take a walk with him. He grabbed your hand and held it tight in his as you walked down the quiet street. You both were silent and you took in the warm smell of summer that was just around the corner. You observed the bright green color of the leaves that had been growing since April._   
_"Are you sure you don't want to go with me? It'll do you good, a change of scenery, new faces, we'll live together. It would be great." He had tried to hype you up about this for weeks. No matter how many times you'd tell him you couldn't, he was like a child, asking every second for a cookie._   
_"I've got to get my work done here Dan, I'm sorry." It killed you too, having to say no to him, knowing that in a matter of 48 hours he'll be on the other side of the country._   
_"What are we going to do? How would this even work?" He raised your hand which was held by his and dropped it back down._   
_"What are you saying? Do you want to break up?" The thought had been in the back of your head since he said he was leaving, it haunted you at night._   
_"I don't want to, I just don't see how this is ever going to work out." He sighed and let go of your hand to run his through his hair. You bit your lip, fighting back the tears that were on the verge of spilling over._   
_"Fine. We're done then. Have fun in California." He looked shocked, like you had just slapped him in the face. This wasn't what either of you wanted, but he was right. It wouldn't have worked out, not being able to see him at all, and you'd both be too busy to talk._   
_You hadn't walked far, and you turned back towards your house. He stood there in shock, it was the last time you saw him before he left._

"I know that face, that's your thinking face. What'cha thinking about?" Dan's voice snapped you out of the memory. He was sitting across from you, smiling again.   
"Oh, just stuff... Things... You." You quickly shut up after you realized what you said. You looked down at your hands on the table, peaking up at him, his smile had gotten wider, his eyes had a little spark in them.   
"I've been thinking about you too. Haven't stopped since that day." He reached out and placed a hand on top of yours. They were shaking, you didn't know what to do. Your heart was being torn in half. "We could have worked, I didn't know you'd have gotten here so soon."   
"You didn't keep in touch, you just stopped talking to me." Your tone was accusing, he pulled his hand back and dropped it to the table.   
"I know, I fucked up. But now I'm too late. Barry's been talking about you non-fucking-stop. How lucky he is to have a girl like you, and how beautiful you are. It's like a kick in the nuts." You looked at Dan, the light that had once been in his eyes had faded once again. His smile had turned to a frown. "Do you love him?" His eyebrows had lowered, shadowing his eyes. He looked deep in your eyes, like he was trying to find the answer in your eyes.   
You didn't know what to say, let alone what to do. You loved Barry, but seeing Dan had brought back feelings that you thought had disappeared completely.   
"I... I do love him... But..." You trailed off, the urge to cry over came you, there was a lump in your throat that you couldn't get rid of.   
"But what, tell me, please." You shook your head fast, trying to shake away the thoughts, get rid of the feelings. "What if I told you I loved you?" You looked up at him, a sheepish smile playing at his lips. A single tear spilled over and you quickly wiped it away with the back of your hand.   
"I need to... I need to go..." You got up as fast as you could. Your legs were weak, your heart was beating fast, you felt sick. You needed a drink, but he was still sitting at the table, watching you as you walked out of the office once again, using a cigarette as an escape route, something to help ease your mind.   
You heard someone running up behind you. A hand grabbed your arm and spun you around to look at them. It was Barry, he looked worried and seeing him made you finally start crying. You felt like shit for even questioning your love for him. Dan had his chance, had doubted the strength of your relationship which in turn had ended it. You had Barry now and he was all you needed.   
"Hey hey, what's wrong? Did Dan say something?!" Your face was hidden in his chest, you didn't even have a voice at this point. The only sound you could make were whimpers that were muffled by his shirt. You shook your head no, it was the only response you had. It was lie though, but you were lying to protect Barry's feelings. "What happened? Why are you crying?" He rubbed your back, trying to soothe you, calm you, just trying to get you to stop crying so he could get an actual response.   
"I'm just cramping really bad..." You said quietly, taking a deep breath you pulled away. He held his hands on your waist and looked you over. Your makeup probably looked like crap, but that wasn't even on the top of your list of things to worry about.   
"Do you want to go home? I can drive you home and I'll stay with you tonight." You didn't want to pull him away from his friends party, this was more of a party for Jon than it was for Dan. You didn't want to leave either, Jon was your friend too. Dan couldn't, wouldn't keep you from having fun tonight.   
"No, I'll be fine. Just gonna go clean myself up in the bathroom, and I'll meet you inside." You gave him the best smile you could produce, the worry wasn't fully gone from his face, but at least it wouldn't be noticeable to anyone else...hopefully.   
"Don't take too long, I think they'll be starting the cake soon. Then we're all going to play one last game before the party is over." You nodded quickly and he kissed your forehead.   
You made your way to the bathroom to fix your makeup. Your mascara had run a little bit, tears had created streaks in your foundation. You wiped the mascara lines away and tried to blend your foundation to hide the lines. You stared at yourself in the mirror for an extra minute, mentally preparing yourself to go back out there. You would just have to avoid Dan, it couldn't be too hard.   
You peaked out the bathroom door, making sure Dan wasn't out there and walked straight to Barry. As long as you stayed by his side, Dan wouldn't be able to bother you about the past.   
Barry instinctively wrapped one arm around your waist as he talked to Arin and Jon about some game that you hadn't heard of before. Dan was on the other side of the room talking to Mark and Ross, but his eyes often darted to look at you.

"Cake time!" Suzy shouted over everyone else. You were still standing with Barry, his arm was still around you and you walked with him over to the table. Everyone was surrounding it, all eyes were on the cake, all except Dans. His hadn't left yours. You tried to look anywhere but at him, but even then you felt his gaze upon you, it made you uncomfortable. You shifted and Barry pulled you closer against him and kissed the top of your head. You saw Dan roll his eyes, finally looking away from you and down at the cake. You didn't know what you were going to do about him, hopefully he'd soon realize that you were happy with Barry and not even he could ruin that.   
After everyone had completely demolished the cake it was decided that everyone would play Mario Party 9.   
Arin and Barry thought it would be fun to have the couple play against each other first, and then Jon, Dan, Ross and Mark would play next.   
You grabbed your controller and sat next to Barry on the couch. You and Suzy were in the middle between Arin and Barry. Jon stood behind Barry, Mark stood behind Suzy and Ross stood behind Arin, leaving Dan to stand behind you. You heard him breathing heavily, the air traveling down your neck. You scooted closer to Barry, he smiled and kissed your cheek. Dan made a sound of disgust, and he was pissing you off now.

After everyone was finished playing the game it was time to go home. You couldn't have been happier, going home with Barry. You and Barry would be going to the airport to see Jon off in the morning, so you needed to be well rested.   
Everyone said goodbye and gave hugs, you stuck close to Barry still, you were practically glued to his side. Nobody thought anything of it, but the way Dan looked at you, he knew that you were avoiding him. Anger and sadness would flash in his eyes whenever Barry would tighten his hold on you or kiss you.   
When it came time for you to say goodbye to Dan his arms were outstretched, waiting for the hug that you didn't really want to give him, but you didn't want anyone to see that something was wrong, especially Barry, so you have him a quick one handed hug and pulled away.   
Barry grabbed your hand and you waved one last goodbye before leaving with him.   
"Did you have fun tonight?" Barry asked as he got into your car. He was driving back tonight since he would be spending the night.  
"Mmhm, a lot of fun." It was a partial lie, Dan had ruined the beginning of your night, but once you were close to Barry it was great.   
"I'm really sorry you were cramping the whole time. I should have kept a closer eye on you. Speaking of keeping an eye on you, I saw that Dan couldn't keep his off of you." He looked at you out of the side of his eyes. "Don't blame him though, you look amazing, and you're all mine." He ran his hand up your thigh and back down to your knee and gave a gentle squeeze.   
"Did you mean what you said earlier tonight?" You wanted to change the subject, so you asked the only question you could think of.   
"Of course I meant it... You think I'd lie about that?" He was disappointed that you'd even ask that, that you'd doubt that he actually loved you.   
"Of course not, I just want to be sure that you meant it... Because I did when I said it back." You were at a red light and he leaned over to kiss you before the light turned green.   
"I know you did." He grabbed you hand and held it while he drove, running his thumb over yours absentmindedly.

He pulled into the apartment parking lot, the lights from inside dimly illuminated the lot. You had fallen asleep, and when the engine cut off you had woken up. You looked around and yawned, you didn't even remember falling asleep.   
"Hey there sleepyhead. We're home." He brushed his thumb across your cheek as you yawned again. "Let's get you into bed. Come on." He got out of the car and walked quickly around to your side to open the door for you.   
You reached your hand out for him to help pull you up. He chuckled softly to himself as he gently pulled you from the car. You stumbled and grabbed onto Barry for support. His hands quickly moved from your hands to your waist, trying to hold you steady. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were drunk. Do you want me to carry you?" He wasn't joking, and you knew that he'd be able to, but you weren't a baby, and it would be embarrassing to have your boyfriend carry you to your apartment.   
"Uh-uh, I can... I'll walk." He sighed and pursed his lips, but he didn't argue. Instead he kept his arm wrapped around you protectively to keep you from falling.

When you got up to your apartment you walked over to the couch and fell onto it. You were exhausted, you could fall asleep anywhere at this point.   
Barry had disappeared for a second, and when he came back his shirt was gone. He lifted you up in his arms and you snuggled close to the warmth of his chest.   
"You're so sexyyy..." You didn't even know what you were saying. Exhaustion had taken over and now you were just embarrassing yourself. His chest vibrated with his laughter as he carried you into the bedroom.   
"So are you darling." He said quietly as he laid you down on the bed. You watched as he slipped out of his pants, biting your lip as he walked closer to the bed to get in with you. "You just gonna sleep in that or do you want me to get your pajamas?" He asked as he looked you over.   
"I just... Pants..." You said tiredly, your eyes were drooping, your vision was blurring. You heard your dresser opening and shutting, then you felt the light tug at your jeans as Barry pulled them off. As soon as they were off he slid your pajama pants on, you lifted your butt so that he could pull them all the way up.   
"You're so lazy when you're tired." He said jokingly as he crawled into the bed next to you. You grunted tiredly and rolled over with your back to him. "I'm joking, come here... Please." You mumbled incoherently and rolled back over, pulling the blankets off of him in the process. "Hey..." He said, brushing your hair out of your face. Your eyes opened slightly to look at him. "I love you." You smiled sleepily and he pulled you close to him.

  
~~~~~~~~~Saturday~~~~~~~~

  
You woke up and saw that Barry was still sleeping. Not wanting to wake him you carefully slid out from under his arm and got out of bed.   
You walked into the bathroom and looked at yourself in the mirror, your hair was wild and you had rubbed your makeup in your sleep so you looked like a raccoon.   
You pulled your makeup removal wipes out of the cabinet under the sink and vigorously rubbed at your face to get all your makeup off. You brushed your teeth then went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. It was eight in the morning and you and Barry were going to the airport at eleven to say bye to Jon.   
The coffee was brewing and Jon was still sleeping, so you went back to the bathroom to take a shower. When you pulled off your underwear and pants you were shocked to see that your period was done and the pad was dry. You always had irregular periods, but it was always surprising when you had short periods, but it also made you happy to know that you wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.   
You kicked your clothes to the side and turned on the shower. You got in and quickly washed and shave.   
Getting out you wrapped yourself in a towel and walked back into the bedroom. You laid in the bed, your hair was still dripping and Barry opened his eyes slowly.   
"You're wet.. Is it raining?" Always so innocent, you shook your head no and rested on your side to look at him. "You're in a towel, aren't you cold?"   
"A little bit... But you could warm me up... Maybe.." The corners of his mouth turned up in a cheeky smile. Wrapping his arm around you he pulled you closer to him.   
"I'm guessing your done?" One eyebrow lowered and you knew immediately that he was talking about your period.   
"Mmhm!" You were excited, not only because it was over, but because of his conversation earlier this week with you.   
He grabbed your hips and pulled you onto his lap, a soft moan escaping his lips.   
"Do you want to have that talk?" He said playfully, his hands were sliding up your thighs, moving under the towel up to your breasts.   
"Not really..." You said, your breathing was shaky, you could feel him getting hard, you ached to feel him. He pulled the towel off of you, his hands were moving at a feverish pace over every inch of your body.   
"God damn..." He whispered before jerking upright, wrapping his arms right around you. You threw your head back as he kissed up and down your neck, biting softly at times.   
"Barry-" You moaned his name. He couldn't take it anymore, he pushed you off of him so you were flat on your back on the bed. He got on top of you and kissed from your collar bones down to your belly button.   
"What do you want me to do?" He looked up at you, then ran a finger over your clit and teasingly stuck the tip of his finger into you. You arched your back. "You like that?" You nodded quickly, you were filled with ecstasy and he gently slid his finger in again, his whole finger this time.   
"Barry please..." He pulled himself up to kiss your lips now, sliding his dick across you. You pushed your hips up against him, needing it more than ever now.   
He pulled off his boxers and teased you, easing the head of his cock into you and pulling out repeatedly until you couldn't take it anymore. When he put the tip in again you quickly lifted your hips to take the length of him into you completely. He moaned loudly and started thrusting quickly, your toes curled and you dug your nails into his back. "______." The way he moaned your name sent a burst of electricity through your body. He dropped, all of his body weight was on top of you and you didn't even care. You wrapped your legs around him, wanting to feel every inch of him inside of you.   
He slowed down, easing slowly out and pushing himself back in, hitting your g spot. Your legs were shaking and your breathing was labored. "Barry I'm gonna-" he pushed in again, you reached your peak and climaxed, digging your nails feeling into his back.   
"Fuuuu-" he couldn't even finish the word before you felt his knees begin to shake, his cock pulsating, the warmth of his cum filling you up.   
His head dropped to the crevice between your neck and your shoulders, you felt the warmth of his breath against your skin.   
You both laid there, breathing heavy, you wanted to savor the moment, relish in every last second of it. But it was cut short when Barry's phone started ringing.   
"Hold on a sec..." He pushed himself off of you and much to your dismay, grabbed his boxers off the floor and slipped them on before grabbing his pants off the floor and pulling his phone out of one of the pockets.   
He answered and said okay a couple times before putting his phone on the table beside the bed. You were still naked and you didn't feel like getting up to put on clothes. "Jon's flight is in an hour, so we have to get to the apartment to pick him up and get him to the airport. Do you want to come?" He already had his pants on and was buttoning his flannel as he asked.   
You nodded and got out of bed to rummage through your dresser for something to wear. You grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top and slipped them on quickly. Barry watched as you got dressed, smiling to himself. "Why are you so happy?" You asked, walking over to him and resting your arms on his shoulders and giving him a small peck on the lips.   
"Oh, you know, waking up and getting to do that... That just might be the reason for my happiness." He caressed your cheek and his hands dropped to your hips and he gave them a little squeeze.   
You squirmed and giggled, taking his hands in your, intertwining your fingers between his. "So you had a good time?" You asked, he rolled his eyes and sighed. You got worried and took a step back. Had you made him feel like he had to when he didn't want to?   
"___, babe... I had a great fucking time, and I don't want you to think any different." You felt stupid now for worrying. He knew that you would never force him to do something that he didn't want to do, especially sex.

Barry was driving and you chose to sit in the back so that Jon could sit in the front with Barry.   
Barry pulled up in front of his apartment building and texted Jon to let him know he was here.   
"So, I've been looking at new apartments, and me and Dan are moving in together soon." You met his eyes in the rearview mirror, and faked a smile.   
"That's... That's great. I'm happy for you." You tried hard to keep your voice steady. When was he planning on telling you this? You were upset, and it's not like you went over to Barry's apartment often, it's just that you were worried that Dan would say something to Barry.   
Maybe you should tell Barry before Dan does.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Took forever to finish this one. Been having some medical problems, holding me back, but it's finally done! Chapter 6 shouldn't take as long as this one did, I promise!

Barry helped Jon put his luggage into the trunk, you were sitting in the back contemplating what to do. How would you even begin to tell Barry that he's moving in with your ex? It couldn't go over well, it would make things awkward for Barry at his own apartment.   
Jon got into the car and turned around to look at you. "You alright ___?" You were staring out the window, biting your nails, your anxiety had shown itself and brought out one of the habits that you hated the most. "Hey Barry, is she okay?" Jon asked as Barry got into the car. You had zoned out, and you had finally come back to reality when Barry placed his hand on your leg.   
"___, are you alright?" You gave him a quick jerky nod. Jon had to get to the airport and you didn't want them to waste time worrying about you.   
"Yeah, just daydreaming. Sorry." You said it too fast to ease Barry's mind, and the whole drive to the airport you saw him glance at you through the rearview mirror.   
When you all got to the airport you walked with Jon and Barry to the terminal. You gave Jon a hug goodbye, and waited for Barry to say his goodbyes. You both watched Jon walked through the gates, then he grabbed your hand and squeezed it to bring your attention to him.   
"You sure you're alright? Don't lie to me this time." He had known you were lying in the car when you told him you were alright. You had only seen him this serious when he was worried about your working, but this issue wasn't as easily handled as getting off a computer. You hesitated, biting your lip thinking of what you were to say.   
"Can we talk about this in the car?" You were honestly terrified of how this was going to go down. Barry nodded, he was still holding your hand and you both walked together back to the car.   
He opened up the front passenger door for you and you climbed in quickly, folding your hands on your lap, staring straight out through the windshield at the people walking by.   
The car shook as Barry climbed into the drivers side. He placed the keys in the cup holder before shutting the door. He wasn't going to drive until he got a reason, the aura of tension was unbearable. You had to get this off your chest.   
"So, you're moving in with Dan soon..." His eyebrows lowered, his eyes wandered and then looked at you.   
"Is that the problem? Do you want me to move in with you?" You sighed and shook your head, turning your gaze away from the window to meet his eyes.   
"No, it's Dan... We both lived in Jersey and I met him at a coffee shop-" Barry cut you off immediately, he looked worried.   
"Did you have sex with him? Be honest with me ____." You were taken aback by the assumption. Why would he even assume that?   
"What the fuck? No, Jesus Christ Barry, let me finish." He nodded, sighing in relief. "We met in a coffee shop, and he helped me get my YouTube channel started, he's the reason I'm even here right now. But, we dated for a little while before he moved, and I just wanted to let you know before he did. That's it."   
Barry smiled and pulled you close to him with his hand on the back of your head. He kissed your forehead before removing his hand, allowing you to sit back comfortably. Retrieving the keys from the cup holder he put them in the slot and turned them, starting the car. He didn't respond to what you said, but the kiss made it seem like he was okay. You rested your head against the back of the seat, the tension in the car had diminished along with the weight that had felt like it was on your chest.   
The drive back to your apartment was quiet, you were still tired and you longed to be back in your bed, hoping that Barry would join you.   
After parking the car you both headed back up to your room in complete silence, it wasn't awkward, you both just had nothing to say. He was holding your hand and swaying it back and forth as you walked down the hallway to the front door.   
He opened it and you walked in with slow heavy steps. You felt like a zombie, having woken up early and then having sex with Barry had drained what little energy you had.   
You dragged your feet as you got closer to the bedroom, Barry was following behind you. You fell face first onto the bed, laying across it with your face buried in a pillow.   
"You can go back to sleep if you want to." He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed your back. You rolled over onto your side to look at him and he gave you a small smile.   
"Are you going to stay here?" You really wanted him to. Spending a little more time with him would make you feel a lot better after the conversation in the car. Although he said that everything was okay, you were still worried that he was upset about what you had told him.   
"I can stay here as long as you want me to, I don't have to go into the office today." He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and ran his fingers light lay across your jaw before returning his hand back to his lap.   
"Are you going to be able to spend the night again?" You were hoping he'd say yes, he would be going back to work Sunday, and him and Dan would probably be setting up to move into their apartment together the rest of the week.   
"If that's what you want me to do, then I will." You rolled your eyes and laid back down. "Do you want me to?" You grabbed his hand and pulled him down to lay next to you, scooting over so he wouldn't fall off the bed. "I'll take that as a yes." His lips raised up in a half smile and wrapped his arm around your waist.   
"Are you going to be alright living with him, even after what I told you?" You hadn't thought to ask this question in the car, you just wanted to get main point across and ask questions later. He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth before answering, thinking of what to say without making you feel bad.   
"Yeah, it's going to be awkward, but as long as he knows you're mine there won't be a problem." He winked and you smiled, shaking your head. He always found a way to make light of something, or maybe it was his way of dealing with it. If you were in his situation you wouldn't be reacting to lightly to it. "So, he was talking to you at the party last night, and you looked pretty upset and agitated, what was that about?" You knew that Barry would ask, especially now. But you hadn't thought long enough about the answer you would give him. He knew when you were lying, and he was staring directly into your eyes, he'd notice even the slightest twitch in them that happens when you lie. You wouldn't be able to hold it off either, and even if you tried, you knew you'd have to face this question at some point.   
"He wanted to talk about old times." There you go, not exactly a lie, and maybe he won't prod you into going any further, hopefully. You didn't want to go into details about the conversation, you still felt like shit for having it with Dan, and if Barry knew the subject of the conversation it would piss him off and he might actually be mad at Dan, which isn't a good way to start off as roommates.   
"So, you guys talked about when you were dating? Why did you look so upset though? Did it not end well?" Why did he have so many questions? This wasn't important, it will never be important, it's in the past.   
"No, it didn't end well. Barry, I'm tired, can we just take a nap?" Derailing conversations was something you weren't entirely good at, but Barry never really noticed and would always go along with it.   
"I'm sorry, yeah let's take a nap. Sorry for bringing it up, I won't do it again. You have me and I have you, that's the important thing." He loosened his hold on you so you could roll over on your side to be in spooning position. You were so tired, you couldn't keep your eyes open any longer. Fatigue washed over and soon you were in a deep slumber. 

~~~~~~~~~~~July~~~~~~~~~~~

After what happened last month, you thought things would change. Dan being on the Game Grumps, Barry living with Dan, it was something that you hadn't thought in a million years would happen. To your surprise, things had stayed pretty much the same, Barry and Dan had actually become really good friends. It shocked you, but you were glad to know that it wasn't as awkward for Barry as you thought it would be.   
You had been working a lot lately, and Barry wasn't able to come over as much as he used to. The Game Grumps had started a new series alongside the original called Steam Train and Barry was busy editing both shows. You now had to tell him to take a break or slow down, the tables had completely flipped.   
When Barry would be able to come over, which was usually on Friday nights or Saturday nights- never both -you would watch movies and order pizza or Chinese food. Barry would occasionally invite you to stay at his house, which you would politely decline each time. Him and Dan might be on good terms, but you just didn't want to face him, not yet at least.   
On week nights you'd stay up until one in the morning editing, Barry would also stay up late and you'd talk on the phone until one of you were either done or too tired to continue working.   
You and Suzy had become close and you'd spend a lot of time with her when you weren't editing and when she wasn't recording videos for her channel. She asked you once to be in one of her videos to do a makeup challenge, but you rarely ever wore makeup so it was already clear that she'd win in that type of competition with you, so she ended up doing the challenge with her sister.   
It was the 4th of July, Suzy and Arin were having a cookout at their house and you'd all be celebrating Suzy's birthday too (she doesn't know yet).   
You finished editing the last bit of your latest video and got a text from Barry saying he'd be over soon to get you. Knowing Danny would be there already made you feel uncomfortable, but you didn't want things to be awkward, so you'd just grin and bear it. Barry was riding with Dan and had asked him to pick you up, which had pissed you off beyond belief, but you had told Barry it was okay. You bottled it up among many other things, you were to erupt soon and it would be bad, but for now you were fine, you could hold off a little longer.   
You were wearing a strapless maxi dress, it was floral print at the bottom and it was white with a lace pattern at the chest area. You slipped on your flip flops and grabbed you light washed denim jacket off the back of the couch and waited by the door for a text to let you know they were here.   
Your hair hung in loose curls, framing your face. You wore a more natural makeup, light brown eyeshadow and a small thing wing of black eyeliner. Your lips were glossed in a salmon colored lipgloss. You thought that maybe you had overdone it, but you had no time to change now. Barry texted you and told you he was outside waiting, and when you opened the door you didn't expect him to actually be outside your door, but there he was. He had a blue and red flannel on with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and dark denim jeans on with brown slipper type loafers. He grabbed your hand and spun you around in the doorway before pulling you into his arms.   
"I don't think it was intentional on your behalf, but I think you're going to make my pal Dan pretty jealous due to how gorgeous you look right now." You snickered and pulled away to close your door and lock it. Shaking your head you turned back to look at him.   
"It was completely unintentional, I could give a shit less about what he thinks." Dans opinion didn't really matter to you, as long as Barry thought you looked good you would be fine. Making Dan jealous was the last thing on your list of things to do, better yet, it wasn't even on your list of things to do.   
You both got on the elevator, Barry kept his arms around you, holding you tight against his chest, planting small kisses on your bare shoulder. The door opened as you got to ground level, you were shocked to see Danny leaning against the wall, staring Barry down. You felt his hold on you tighten, you felt some sort of tension and you hoped that they wouldn't be like this the whole day.   
"You guys ready to go?" Danny asked forcefully, you rolled your eyes and Barry nodded. He was being impolite for no reason, if he would just accept that you were with Barry and move on there wouldn't be a problem.   
The three of you walked out to Dans car together, Barry sat in the front with Dan and you climbed into the back. It was full of junk and you shoved it all to the side so you could buckle your seatbelt.   
The ride there was awkwardly silent, Danny would look back at you constantly, and Barry would glare at Dan whenever he did it. You felt uncomfortable and had wished that you had just driven there yourself. The rush of relief that overcame you when Dan pulled up out front of Arin and Suzy's house was immeasurable. You quickly opened the door and got out before Dan had even turned the car off.   
Barry followed after you, leaving Dan behind. You knocked quickly on the door, hoping someone would answer before Dan came up.   
When Suzy opened the door you were dazzled by how beautiful she looked. She was wearing an all black maxi dress and her hair was done so beautifully you could only stare.   
"Come on in you guys, oh jeez, Dan looks like he's having a little trouble getting the bags out of the trunk. Barry go help him, come on _____." Barry sighed loudly, like a child would when their mother told them to clean their room. But he turned around on his heel and went back to the car to help Dan grab the bags while you followed Suzy inside.   
Suzy had decorated the house with red, white and blue balloons, and in the backyard the grill was already smoking, Arin was behind it flipping burgers and hot dogs. Tables had been draped with festive plastic covers, Ross and his wife Holly were sitting at one table sipping out of cups with tiny umbrellas in them.   
Dan and Barry soon came through the back doors to place the bags on a table that was off to the side. It had rows of hamburger and hot dog buns and side dishes. Paper plates and cups were stacked neatly, disposable silver wear was organized by utensil in three different plastic cups. There was a cooler next to the table that had beers, and wine coolers, water bottles and different types of soda in it. Music was playing softly from a radio that was nowhere to be seen.   
Holly got up to talk with you and Suzy, while Ross, Barry and Dan stayed around the grill to talk to Arin.   
You had never met Holly in person before, but you had heard about her from Suzy and from what Suzy said, she seemed like a sweet girl.   
"Hi, I'm Holly! I'm Ross's wife, you must be Barry's girlfriend _____, it's great to finally meet you!" Her smile never faded, you wondered if her cheeks ever began to hurt. The way that she said it was great to finally meet you had you wondering if and how much Barry actually talked about you around the office. It made you feel sort of self conscious, what had he been saying?   
"It's great to meet you too." You smiled back at her, it wasn't as big or as great a smile as hers, your lips turned up a little at the sides, but it was a genuine smile. "Your dress is really cute by the way." She was wearing a short frilly white sundress, and she looked adorable in it. Her hair was short and red, and had loose curls. She could pull off any look, as you had seen in her cosplay show that she does on YouTube.   
"Oh thank you so much! Here come our boys!" You felt Barry's arms come around your waste, his touch so familiar you didn't even have to see if it was really him.   
Ross and Arin took their places behind Suzy and Holly. Danny stood by himself in the center of the little circle that had formed.   
"Sooo, what are you ladies talking about?" Arin pursed his lips and opened his eyes wide, making everyone laugh. "Oh, come on! Lemme hear some of that juicy gossip girrrrrllllssss." Suzy rolled her eyes, but smiled up at him, he kissed her cheek and you couldn't help but smile at how sweet they were. They're engaged and they were to be married in October, you were excited for them.   
"There is no juicy gossip Arin, I was talking to ____, stop being so nosy." Holly said jokingly. Ross was standing behind her, but his stance was more of a slouch instead of the protective like holds that Barry and Arin had around you and Suzy.   
"I bet Dan is feeling pretty awkward right now." Ross jibed, Dan shot him a glare, it was more like a death stare. You didn't understand why he was so on edge.   
"God dammit Ross." Barry mumbled under his breath, loud enough so that only you could hear it. You shuffled a little, causing Barry's hold to become tighter around your waist. "How about we eat real quick, then the party can really start." Barry tried to lighten the mood, Dan was still glaring at Ross, but everyone else nodded and made their way to the table where a plate of cheeseburgers and hotdogs were. They were stacked neatly, one cheeseburger on top of the other, almost like Arin was trying to build a castle with each neatly placed burger.   
A line started to form behind you and Barry, as you both were first to get to the table. You grabbed a plate and started to stack a bunch of food onto it, Barry was doing the same thing. Being the first in line you didn't want to hold anyone up so you piled as much stuff onto the plate as possible, thankful that it wasn't flimsy as everything would have tipped off by now.   
You made your way to one of the tables and sat down next to Barry. Suzy and Arin soon joined you, and Holly, Ross, and Dan sat at the other table that was next to the one you were sitting at.   
"It's so nice having everyone here. You all have such busy schedules, and holidays usually aren't a reason to stop what we're doing, but you all took the time to come out here, so thank you." Suzy was standing as she said this, raising her red solo cup of juice, like a toast. Everyone started saying thank you and other things that were unintelligible.   
Everyone ate and joked around, there was a lot of laughter, and everyone was smiling, even Dan. He had taken his attention off of you for the time being to join in the fun.   
After everyone ate and cleaned up you and Holly kept Suzy occupied so that Arin and Dan could get her cake, Barry went to the car to get a special surprise that not even you knew about. Ross was standing in front of Suzy to obstruct her view of the door, nonchalantly drinking a beer to seem casual. Barry came out the door first carrying a box that had giant balloon font letters across it. It was a Slip N Slide and Holly, Suzy, and yourself stared from one another confused. Nobody had bathing suites, and the only other idea you had was that at some point you'd all get so drunk that you wouldn't really care.   
Arin and Dan came out with the cake, candles already lit, while Suzy was busy asking Barry about the Slip N Slide. As they placed the cake down on the table that had once had all the food stacked on it, they started to sing Happy Birthday. Everyone else joined in, Suzy's mouth hung in shock, but quickly turned into a smile. You thought you saw a tear roll down her cheek, but it might have just been the way the sun was shining on her.   
When everyone finished singing she walked over slowly to blow out her candles. "I don't know what to wish for guys, everything I want and need is right here in front of me." She quickly blew the candles out and hugged everyone, saving Arin for last. Ross let out a sarcastic "aww" when Arin kissed her and Holly smacked his arm.   
"Let's have some cake and some beers, huh!" Ross shouted, grabbing what seemed to be his third beer from the cooler. Barry shrugged and grabbed a beer for you and himself. Dan grabbed one for himself and Arin, who shook is head, while explaining that he doesn't drink.   
Suzy cut pieces of the cake, Holly held plates for her to put the pieces on and you handed them out to people, setting out three extra plates for Suzy, Holly and yourself.   
The boys quickly scarfed down their cake, Ross, Barry and Dan all got up to get more beer while Arin was busy setting up the Slip N Slide.   
"What the hell do they expect us to slip and slide in? We're all wearing dresses." You said while the boys walked by. Barry stopped next to the table you and the rest of the girls were sitting at and leaned down next to you.   
"I'll make sure your dress doesn't slide off, I'll help with that when we get back to your place." He whispered in your ear. It sent shivers down your spine and chills throughout your whole body. He kissed your neck before walking back over to his table.   
"SLIP N SLIDES SET UP!" Arin shouted, standing up with his arms in the air, victorious.   
"WOOHOO!" Ross shouted, taking his shirt off and throwing it to Holly.   
He backed up against the fence and started running towards the slip n slide. He dove onto it and slid so fast that the water sprayed far enough to hit everyone.   
"ME NEXT!" Arin already had his shirt off and was backed against the fence like Ross had done.   
Dan and Barry stayed at the table, watching and laughing as Arin and Ross took turns on the slide.   
"I say one of the girls take a turn, come on!" Ross said as he got from his third slide, shaking his hair like a dog who had just gotten a bath. Droplets of water went flying everywhere.   
You shrugged and got up from the table, slipping your sandals off and pushing them underneath the table. Barry watched as you walked to where Arin and Ross were standing against the fence.   
"Yeah ___! You go girrrrllll!" Arin said, patting your back as you took a deep breath to prepare yourself. The water would be cold and it would be a shock. You ran towards the slide and dove at it. As you slide across you felt your dress sliding lower and lower, soon all you felt was the tarp like plastic against your bare chest, it would have hurt horribly had the water not been cold enough to practically numb you.   
Barry was already at the end to help you up, and you quickly pulled your dress up and grabbed his hand.   
He kept you at arms length, not wanting to get soaked, and he let out a soft chuckle. "That was cute, but, I think that maybe you should get a change of clothes before doing it again. Alright?" You nodded, you knew that he was mainly worried about your dress coming fully off and everyone seeing you basically naked. You didn't want anyone to see you like that either. 

 

~~~~~~~~Later That Evening~~~~~~~ 

 

The sun had set and there was a slight chill in the air making the Slip N Slide a no go for the rest of the evening.   
Everyone had finally taken their turn on it after changing into something more comfortable or appropriate. Everyone had a blast, and now everyone was sitting at the table, hair soaked and clothes dripping. Makeup was smudged, but it didn't even matter. You all had enjoyed yourself, and now everyone was huddled around the tiny candle at the center of the table, watching it dance from side to side each time the wind blew.   
"Thank you all for coming out, I had a great time." Arin said, everyone nodded, it was nothing that he needed to thank you for, you all had a great time as well.   
"We really need to do this again some time." Suzy added on, her eyes traveled around the table, meeting everyone else's.   
"Maybe Labor Day we can?" You said, thinking that one last party to end the summer with a bang would be nice.   
"Hell yeah! We can do that!" Arin said, his head moving in quick jerky nods.   
Dan clapped his hands together before setting them back on the table. "Alright it's set! One last Labor Day hoorah it is. Sounds good to me!"   
"Maybe you'll find someone by then and you won't be the awkward seventh wheel." Ross said snarkly, Holly slapped his arm again. "Whaaat? I'm just saying." You rolled your eyes and shook your head. Upset that Ross had brought it up, Dan was now side glancing at you every couple of minutes, a look of longing in his eyes. You knew that he wouldn't find anyone by then, not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to.   
"Well, I'm going to be heading home... Uhm, guys..." Dan was getting up, and you knew that you and Barry would have to leave as well. Dan was your ride home, and as much as you'd love to stay a little while longer, you had work to do it the morning and you needed to get to sleep.   
Suzy got up to give you a hug, and soon Holly came over to do the same. The hugs went down the line until everyone had received a goodbye hug and you, Barry, and Dan were heading out to the car.   
"Hey man, are you going to be okay with driving?" Barry asked Dan, he was walking quietly in front, leading you and Barry to the car.   
"You had more to drink than I did, even ____ had more than I did. I knew I was the designated driver." He was laughing m, but unlike Barry, you knew it was a fake laugh. What Ross said had gotten to him, you seen it in his eyes, in his stance. As much as you hated to admit, you felt bad for him. He was sad and lonely, and all he wanted was you, and he constantly had to see you with Barry. You couldn't even fathom how much that must upset him, how much it must hurt.


	6. Chapter 6

You woke up to the sun shining on your face through the bedroom window. Your head hurt and you felt nauseous, and you were shocked because you hadn't drank a lot last night. You looked over at Barry who was sleeping next to you, a pillow was over his face, blocking the sun from eyes so he could stay asleep. As you moved to get out of bed he grunted and put his arm over you.  
"Mmm, don't leave, it's early." He moved the pillow off his face with his free hand and got his phone off the nightstand. "It's only eight, you don't have to start work this early."  
You shifted under his arm and he pulled it away dejectedly. You sat up and turned to look at him, he was pouting and you stifled a giggle. "Oh stop it, I need to get something done, and I don't want to procrastinate like some people." You looked at him and he sat up on his elbows.  
"Hey, I don't procrastinate, I just don't feel like it sometimes." You sighed and leaned over to kiss him before getting up to get dressed. "I wish you didn't have to do that." You blushed as you pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.  
"Would you like something to eat?" You asked, throwing your hair up in a loose ponytail. He shook his head no and laid back down, covering his face with the pillow. "Alright, well, I'm going to go out to get some Dunkin Donuts. Text me if you want anything." He gave you a thumbs up to let you know he heard you and you left the bedroom, closing the door behind you.  
You grabbed your keys off the counter and your purse off the kitchen table. You didn't remember placing your stuff there, but you checked and everything was there, so it must not be anything to worry about.  
You pulled a hoodie off one of the hangers in the hall closet and slipped it on. It was always sort of breezy in the morning before it became smothering hot. You quickly slipped on your Toms and left, locking the door behind yourself.  
You walked at a leisurely pace through the main lobby, although your head hurt, the nausea had worn off and you were well rested. As soon as you got in your car you rolled down the windows, letting the cool breeze wash over your face. You drove silently down the street, Dunkin Donuts was only about ten minutes away and it would be a waste of time to even look for a song to play on your phone.  
Pulling into the parking lot you seen that it was pretty empty aside from two cars that you assumed to be the workers. You walked in and went up to the counter, ordering a coffee and a glazed donut.  
As you turned around to find a table to sit at, you saw Dan, and for once you were sort of happy to see him, at least you wouldn't have to sit alone.  
You walked over to the table he was sitting at, he was on his phone, he hadn't even noticed you were there.  
"Hey, can I sit here?" He looked up, and as soon as he realized it was you his eyes got wide and he looked around. "It's just me, Barry's at my place sleeping still." He smiled with relief and you pulled the chair out to sit down.  
"Good thing it's just you, I haven't been able to talk to you for like, ever! So, is Melody your friend or your spy or something, cause she always comes into the office for Barry." You didn't know what he was talking about, but you knew he wasn't lying. He never looked you in the eyes when he lied, but now you were confused.  
"What are you talking about? I don't know any Melody, and what do you mean she comes into the office for Barry?" He shrugged and but his lip, even he was confused, you could see it in his body language. The way his eyebrows lowered over his eyes, casting a shadow on them.  
"She's just always there... She stands behind him while he works and sometimes they go off into the other room and nobody knows what they're doing... Oh no..." You stomach was doing somersaults, it felt like the room was spinning. You wished that Dan would just say that he was joking, or his eyes would give it away, but there was no sign of that. He was telling the truth, something that you didn't want to hear, but needed to be heard.  
"Why did you wait so long to tell me?" He gave you a look, like you should know the answer. When you didn't say anything he sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  
"Barry is always right there, I couldn't. I didn't want to get into a fight. But I wanted to tell you, you deserve to know. She been coming around for a couple of days, maybe a week or two. But they won't keep their hands off each other... I'm sorry." The tears were rolling down your cheeks, you couldn't be bothered to even wipe them away.  
The man working the counter called your name and Dan got up to get your coffee and donut, when he came back he placed them in front of you and ran his thumb over your cheek, wiping the tears away. You sniffled and looked up at Dan, your vision blurred with the tears that were still welling. He pulled you up in his arms and held you against his chest, stroking your hair, trying to soothe you, calm you, anything to make you feel better.  
"I just don't get it, he sleeps with me, he... He said he loves me... Why would he do this?" You were practically hyperventilating, his hold on you got tighter and you wrapped your arms around him. He ran his finger up and down your back, humming an unknown tune. This wasn't for him, he was doing it for you, because at the end of the day, your feelings were more important than his own.  
"What are you going to do?" You hadn't even thought about what you were going to do. You were frustrated and emotional and just confused. Why had nobody told you, with everyone in the office why hadn't they texted you, pulled you aside at the party yesterday? Barry was at your house right now, and you had to go back home at some point. He took a quick breath and stepped back, keeping his hands on your shoulders. "We can worry about that later, just sit down and drink your coffee, eat your donut, we'll figure it out." You nodded, the way that he said "we" made you smile, a slight twitch of your lip, but enough for him to catch it and smile back. He was going to be there for you to help you through this, it won't be easy at all either. For months you've been falling asleep next to Barry, waking up with him, falling more in love with him everyday, for what? For everything to be crushed in a matter of seconds, all the dreams, all the plans that you had for the both of you shattering completely.  
"So," he said, breaking your train of thought, trying to keep your mind off of the situation at hand for as long as possible. "What's a pretty girl like you doing out this early?" You smiled, shaking your head and wiping the stray tears off your cheek with your sleeve.  
"I wanted coffee and a donut, what are you doing here this early?" He chuckled and rhythmically tapped his hands on the table as his name was called at the counter. He held up his finger, and quickly walked up to the counter to get his order. When he came back to the table he put his cup of coffee on the table and gestured at it with his hands.  
"Same thing, plus I get pretty lonely at the apartment. I didn't expect to see you here though. Do you still put like a gazillion packets of sugar and creamer in your coffee?" You sucked your lips in, your eyes shifted around the room, then back up to him. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."  
"I didn't think you'd remember that." You said, looking down at your coffee as your poured the first packet of sugar in, watching the grains of sugar slowly sink to the bottom of the cup.  
"Of course I remember, I remember everything. I think about you everyday, all day. I don't want to forget. It may be hard for you to believe, but you were the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Having to leave you, when I came here, I was depressed, I didn't know if I could do it. So to get through the days I'd remember being with you...I still have that set of pictures that we took in that photo booth at the fair." He pulled out his wallet and slid it across the table to you. In the clear slot was the row of pictures. You pulled it out and the paper unfolded. The creases were it had been folded and unfolded were worn out, like it had been done everyday, multiple times a day. As you looked at the pictures your mind took you back to that day.

_Dan was holding your hand, the smell of caramel popcorn, cotton candy, funnel cakes and other fried foods wafted through the air and into your nose. You walked through the crowds of people, his grip getting tighter whenever a guy looked at you. You stayed close by his side, not wanting to get lost in the crowd._  
_"What ride do you want get on babe?" He asked you, swinging your hand back and forth waiting for your answer. You looked around you, and the smiled when you saw The Zipper. You pointed up to it and looked back at him grinning widely. "Of course. Anything for you though, come on. Oh, and don't get all fussy when I throw up all over you." You laughed and lightly smacked his chest as you walked over to the entrance. "I'm not joking." He pulled the booklet of tickets out of his pocket and ripped off twelve tickets and handed them to the ride operator. Inhaling deeply, squeezing your hand hard, he walked through the gate and got into the cage with you. "There's no fucking seat belts!" He screamed as the ride operator slammed the cage door shut. You held tightly onto the handle bar that went along the inside of the door and laughed as Dan held the handle bar for dear life._  
_The ride slowly moved, your cage was off the ground and rocking slowly as the people below filled the next cage. "This is going to be fun babe, don't worry." You told Dan, he was biting his lip so hard that it was bleeding. You put your hand on top of his, trying to calm him down. The ride started to move again, you felt his hand tense up on the handle bar.  
Your cage was rocking slowly at first, then the ride sped up and started turning along with the cages. All the cages started flipping and you were screaming with excitement while Dan was screaming expletives at the top of his lungs with every flip.  
When the ride came to a stop he still wouldn't let go of the handle bar. You had to pry his fingers off one by one._  
_"Dan, the ride is over, it's alright. How are you feeling?" He looked at you, his eyes wide, mouth hanging open, like a deer in headlights.  
"I feel like I'm going to puke, no more of this shit, alright... Please. I want to live a little bit longer." The ride operator opened the cage door and Dan stumbled out, he had to grab onto you for support.  
You saw a photo booth close by and jumped around clapping your hands. "Can we please?" You asked pointing to it._  
_"Alright, come on cutie." He grabbed your hand and you practically ran to it, he had to jog to keep up.  
You both climbed into the booth and when you saw yourselves in the mirror you both laughed. Your hair was messed up, but you didn't even care. He put in the money and you picked a theme for the boarder of your pictures and waited for the countdown._  
_The first picture was of you both smiling, the second was Dan squeezing your cheeks to give you fishy lips and him making a kissy face. The third was when you both weren't ready, Dan had ran his hand through his hair and you were fixing your shirt. The fourth was your favorite picture, it was a basic relationship photo of him kissing you, but you loved it._  
 _When the pictures came out of the little slot you grabbed them and looked them over, smiling wide. You handed the slip of paper to Dan. He folded up the slip of paper so the last picture was on top and slipped it into the clear slot of his wallet._

  
You slipped the pictures back into his wallet and slid it across the table to him. "I didn't think you'd still have it... That was a fun day. The ride was fun." You giggled and he stuck his tongue out at you as he put his wallet back in his pocket.  
"I hate that ride, I felt like I was going to throw up and die all at the same time. But I'd ride it as many times as I have to if it was with you." He reached across the table and brushed the back of his hand across your cheek. You closed your eyes and inhaled deeply through your nose, savoring the touch. "Is this too much?" You shook your head quickly and opened your eyes as he pulled his hand away.  
"No, I just... I don't know what to do..." He looked down at his hands on the table. "I... I miss you. And I..." You stopped yourself from finishing the sentence. You wanted to tell him you loved him, because as much as you tried to convince yourself that you didn't while you were with Barry, deep down you could never deny that you still love Dan.  
"I love you too ___, but we need to figure out what we're going to do." You nodded slowly, he was right.  
"Do you think that seeing each other here was a coincidence?" He looked at you confused. "Or maybe this was supposed to happen... Maybe we're supposed to be together you know..."  
"Are we going to be together? Is that what you want?" You didn't even hesitate, nodding your head. It was definitely what you wanted, it was what your heart wanted. It's all you ever wanted, and Barry could never have taken the place in your heart that was reserved for Dan. "Alright, we need to figure out what we're going to do about Barry." He kept reiterating this, like you didn't already know that you needed to do something about Barry.  
As you were thinking about what you were going to do, your phone vibrated in your pocket. You pulled it out and checked, Barry had texted you.

**"Is Dunkin Donuts crowded? You've been gone for about an hour now."**

**"Oh, I went to the store to get some stuff for dinner tonight, sorry for taking so long."**

**"It's no problem honey, I'm going to get Dan to pick me up. What are we having for dinner?"**

**"Spaghetti and Texas toast."**

**"Sounds delicious, can't wait. I'll see you tonight, I love you."**

You froze, staring at the text. How could he even say that, how were you supposed to respond to it after what Dan told you. You handed your phone over to Dan, he made a sound of disgust when he read the text from Barry. His fingers quickly tapped across the screen before handing it back to you. Reading what he had write back to Barry, you looked up at him, head tilted in utter confusion.  
"Why would you text back saying that I loved him too?"  
"Because you can't act different, he doesn't know that you know anything, and he doesn't know that we met up here. Just act like you don't know anything." You but your lip, thinking. What were you going to actually do?  
"What if he kisses me or... Can't you just come back to the apartment with me and help?" He closed his eyes tight, not wanting to think about Barry kissing you. When he finally opened his eyes again they looked sad.  
"____, I have to live with him. I want to help, I do really... But I can't be there when you guys break up, he'll know I had something to do with it." He dropped his head, his hair was hanging in front of his face. He felt bad that he couldn't do more to help, but you completely understood why he couldn't.  
"I know, but, how else can I do it Dan. I won't be able to do it face to face by myself." He nodded, knowing all too well that when it came to breaking up, you weren't the best at it. You were weak and scared of confrontation, which you knew would come along with breaking up with Barry.  
"Maybe you can do it over text. I know it's horrible, and most people advise against it, but it's the most you can do... And you can do it right now." You but your lip, hesitating before pulling your phone back out of your pocket.  
You opened up your messenger and tapped Barry's name. Taking a deep breath, you started the text.

**"Look, Barry... I just don't think I can do this anymore... Us, I just can't. I have so much work to do, and so do you, I feel like we're holding each other back, and I think we need to just end it. I don't want to end on bad terms, I hope we can still be friends."**

You watched as sent turned to read, and held your breath as the three dots showed up to indicate that he was writing back.  
"What did you say?" Dan asked and you handed your phone over to him. He read it quickly and nodded, smiling while handing your phone back to you. "That's great, he's still typing. I wonder what it's going to say." That made the both of you, it seemed like it was never ending, the three dots still doing their little wave motion. Finally it showed up.

**"I don't get it, you were perfectly fine this morning, what happened in an hour that made you come up with the grand idea that is breaking up is going to make things any easier? You've been doing just fine, we've been doing just fine with our work for the past three months, and now things are hard? You just told me that you loved me, then you're going to hit me with the 'it's over' text, I just don't get it. Why can't we just talk this over in person? Did you find someone else? Are you cheating on me or something?"**

You read the last sentence over and over again, irritated that he would even assume that you were the one cheating when he's had whoever the hell Melody was at the office constantly, and according to Dan, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Dan saw the look on your face and held out his hand so that he could read the text.  
You shook your head, shoving your phone back in your pocket, knowing that if Dan saw the text he would take it upon himself to write back.  
"___, what did it say?" He had pulled his hand away and was now staring intently at you.  
"He accused me of cheating, well, he assumes I'm cheating." You shook your head and covered your face with your hands. You thought it would be much easier than this since Barry already had a girl on the side to go to.  
"It's a guilty conscious. He would never admit to cheating himself, so to make himself feel better about doing it, he'll just accuse you of being the cheater." You heard his phone go off in his pocket and he pulled it out. "It's from Barry." You watched as his eyes quickly scanned over the text and then he handed the phone over to you so you could read it.

**"____ broke up with me, saying that she could get more work done if we just broke up. Bullshit, it's fucking bullshit. Do you think she found out about Melody, do you think someone told her? I told everyone to keep it a secret. Just, pick me up from her apartment, we can go out for drinks or something, on me."**

You tried hard as you could to swallow the lump that had built up in your throat. Even though you believed what Dan had said, it was still hard to see the text from Barry confirming it 100%. You gave Dan his phone back, your hands were shaking.  
"Hey, I'm here, do you want me to come by your place after I get Barry?" He asked, holding your hands, trying to stop them from shaking.  
"Can you? Please... I need you." He nodded, texting Barry back with quick fingers, then slipping his phone back into his pocket.  
"Of course, I told him that I have to record some music today, and I'll be back around like 7. I should go pick him up real quick and take him back to our apartment, then I'll come over. Everything will be fine." You both stood up and he took two steps over to you, taking you into his arms, kissing your forehead repeatedly. He stopped for a second, and you took this chance to look up at him. You brought your hand up to his face, letting it slowly drop from his cheek to his jawline, the stubble scratching your palm. He leaned in to kiss you, short and sweet on the lips. It was a completely different feeling than you had with Barry, one that you had secretly longed for. "Alright, let me pick him up, then I'll come over to your place..." You nodded slowly, not wanting Dan to let go, but you knew that he would be back soon to spend some time with you at your own apartment. It made you excited, it felt like you were about to go on your first date all over again. He kissed the top of your head before pulling back and grabbing his cup of coffee off the table and leaving.  
You sat at the table for a couple minutes, sipping on your coffee, thinking about everything that had happened today and how much things had changed in such a short span of time.  
You had woken up this morning with Barry in your bed, believing at the time that he loved you and that he was who you were going to grow old with, and now you were basically dating Danny again, the old feelings for him that you worked so hard to tuck away in the back of your mind making their way to the front, falling for him all over again.  
You got up from the table and stretched, throwing your half drank cup of coffee in the trash. Dan had to have gotten Barry by now, so you should be able to go back to your apartment. Walking out to your car a warm breeze washed over you, you felt like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You would finally be able to be with Dan, the way that it should have been.

The drive to your apartment felt a lot longer than it was before, the excitement of having Dan over had made time feel like it was moving at turtle speed. Traffic wasn't helping, people were on their way to work and you were becoming impatient.  
When you finally pulled into the parking lot you drove around twice to make sure Dans car wasn't there, then parked close to the entrance. You walked quickly into the lobby, waving to the man behind the reception desk, he looked puzzled but waved back politely.  
You got to your apartment and when you went to unlock it, it was already unlocked. You sighed, shaking your head to yourself. Walking in you were shocked to see that you apartment was trashed. Your kitchen chairs had all been tipped over and your DVD collection was all over the floor. You ran over and picked up the few DVDs that were snapped in half and dropped to your knees when you saw that they were all of your Halloween movies.  
There was a knock at your door and you looked up and saw Dan peaking his head in.  
"____, you home yet?" He walked in and looked around. When he saw you down on the floor he ran over to see what was going on. "What happened?"  
"I-I didn't think that he would do this... All of my... Oh god my computer!" Dan helped you up off the floor and followed you over to your computer. You pressed the power button on the tower and when it didn't turn on you saw that he had taken the power cord. "Son of a fuck!" You slammed your fists down on your desk, tears streaming down your face. Dan pulled you up out of the chair and held your face in his hands.  
"I'll help you, we'll get all your stuff back, alright? Come on, let's go assess the damages, and everything that's ruined, we'll get it back." He wiped a tear off your cheek and then grabbed your hand as you slowly walked to your bedroom. You didn't want to see what he could have done, but it was something you had to do.  
You took a deep breath as you pushed the door open, and when you saw what he had done you turned around and buried your face in Dans chest.  
"Son of a bitch..." He mumbled under his breath as he saw the damage that had been done.  
Barry had busted the mirror that hung above your dresser and your clothes were thrown all over the room. Your mattress had been cut down the middle and was now leaning against the wall.  
"I can't... I can't stay here..." He stroked your hair, keeping you from looking back at what Barry had done.  
"I know, I'll take you to a motel or a hotel... Do you want me to clean this up or...?" You shook your head, you just wanted him to keep you company, you wanted him to be with you wherever you went.  
"I'll get it tomorrow, I need to mentally prepare myself for it... I don't know why he'd do this..." Dan shushed you soothingly and told you not to worry about it. He held your hand tight as you left your apartment, all traces of excitement had left, now replaced with depression and pure anger. You locked the door behind you, wishing that you wouldn't have to come back, but knowing that you'd have to.


	7. Chapter 7

Dan had begged you to let him drive you to the motel, and you finally agreed to letting him. He said that you were a wreck right now and that you shouldn't be driving.   
He had held your hand all the way to his car, and it wasn't until he had let go of it to open the door for you that you realized that he was right. Your hands were shaking rapidly, tears had built up in your eyes but refused to fall, blurring your vision.   
As you got in you took a few deep breaths to try and calm yourself. You didn't think that Barry would be the type of person to do something like that. You squeezed your eyes shut, forcing the tears to fall, and when Dan got in the car and saw you he put his hand on your thigh. It wasn't a sexual touch, he was trying to console you, but not even he could help. Everything that you had worked for was destroyed, and you couldn't even work to make the money to replace your stuff because he took the power cord. You could only imagine what he could have done to your files and your work before taking the cord.   
"Everything will be alright ____, I promise. You know I'm here to help." He rubbed your thigh before pulling his hand away to start the car.   
"I just don't know why he'd do it... All of my stuff Dan, all of it. My clothes, my bed, my movies and god knows what else, ruined." You shook your head, then dropped it into your hands, hiding your face, not wanting to look at Dans concerned gaze. You felt bad for bringing him into this, you knew how he was, he'd do anything for you, to defend you, to make everything alright, but he couldn't this time and he knew that he couldn't. He had to live with Barry, work with Barry, and worst of all, act like he didn't even know what was going on when he was around Barry. "I just don't know why... If he already had a girl on the side, why would he do this?" You weren't even talking to Dan at this point, you were now asking yourself these questions, trying to figure it out for yourself.   
"I don't know either, but we'll figure it out and we'll get it all fixed up. Would it make you feel better if I stayed with you at the motel? I'll sleep on the couch if that's what you want." He smiled over at you, a smile that quickly faded when he saw that you were still lost in thought. "Hey, come on. Look, there's a Super 8 over there, or would you like something fancier?" You shrugged, it didn't matter to you. It's not like this was a vacation for you, it was far from that. You just needed a place to stay while you thought about what you were going to do.   
Dan sighed heavily, pulling into the parking lot of the Super 8. He quickly found a parking spot and you both sat in the car for a minute, the silence would have been unbearable had it been under any other circumstance.   
"Can you just tell me what you're thinking? I'd like to know, when I told you I was here to help I was being serious, but god damn ____, how the hell am I supposed to help if you won't tell me anything?" He slammed his hands down on the steering wheel on agitation when you didn't answer. It pissed you off, why the hell is he agitated with you.   
"Let's set one thing straight okay, I didn't ask for your fucking help, and how the hell am I supposed to tell you what's on my mind or what I'm thinking when my mind is a jumbled mess, I can't even think straight." You ran your hand through your hair and leaned your head against the back of the seat, trying to gather yourself before turning to look at him. He was staring blankly through the windshield, but you could see his jaw clenching and unclenching. "I'm sorry, I'm just... This is just a lot for me to handle." When he didn't respond you reached out and touched his hand. "Dan..." He blinked a few times before turning to look at you.   
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Let's get into the hotel and we can talk, alright." You nodded, and climbed out of the car. You met him around on his side and you both walked in. He went up to the front desk and talked to the man while you looked around the main lobby.   
While Dan was at the front desk, your phone vibrated in your pocket. You pulled it out and saw that it was a text from Suzy.

**"What the hell happened between you and Barry? He said that you just broke up with him out of no where."**

You took this opportunity to ask her about Melody, not that it mattered anymore, but you'd still like to get answers.

**"Melody is Barry's old friend from high school... She moved away for college and she came to visit and Barry thought it would be nice to show her around the office."**

**"Wait... So, are they together?"**

**"What!? No, of course not. I mean, they're really close, but it didn't seem like he was cheating on you with her... Where is this coming from?"**

**"Did they ever go into the back rooms or anything by themselves?"**

**"Not that I know of, Barry always stays pretty late and she usually stays with him to keep him company."**

**"Alright..."**

You shoved your phone back into your pocket, now confused, your mind more jumbled than it was before. You were now questioning Dans motives and his honesty about the whole thing. Would he really lie straight to your face all for his personal gain?   
Dan snapped you out of your trance, waving the room card in front of your face. "Got it, come on, your rooms on the second floor." You nodded, following behind him as he went to the elevators. He pushed the button and when the doors opened you got in and stood on the other side of the elevator from him. "You still thinking? It's alright if you are, I won't badger you, I just want you to be okay." You mumbled a quiet 'mmhm' and he lowered his eyebrows and frowned but didn't ask anymore questions.   
The elevator stopped on the second floor and you got out first, waiting for him to get out so he could show you what room you'd be staying in. You walked down the hall with him, his head turning from side to side, reading the room numbers and finally stopping at a room at the end of the hall. He slid the card into the slot on the door, the little light turned green and you heard the door unlock. He swung it open and held his hand out, implying that you go in first, trying to be a gentleman. You thanked him in a low voice and he walked in behind you as you flopped down on the edge of the bed.   
"So who were you texting while I was at the front desk?" He asked, the spot between his eyebrows creased with wonder and worry.   
"Suzy, apparently Barry told her that we broke up." He nodded, the crinkle between his brows was still there. "I asked her about Melody."   
"Ahh, what did she say?" His eyes were now wide, he was biting his lip and pacing the room.   
"She said that Melody was just a friend of his..." He stopped and turned quickly around to look at you.   
"That's bullshit! You saw the text he sent me at Dunkin Donuts, he talked about Melody and how it was a secret. He told them what to say, he told them to say she was just a friend. Dammit ___, don't believe them!" You rubbed your temples, this was all just too much for you. The text that Barry had sent Dan completely passed your mind, but now that Dan brought it up again what he was saying didn't seem to far fetched. You didn't know who to believe anymore, but your heart still told you to trust Dan. "You don't believe them, do you? You don't really think I'd purposely put you through this all for myself? Hell, when I told you, I didn't think that there would be a chance of us getting back together, I just care about you that much." And he was right, because when he told you about the whole Melody thing you hadn't even brought up, let alone thought about getting back with Dan. It wasn't until he had brought up the past that you had contemplated maybe getting back together. Plus, Barry and the rest of the Grumps have been friends for a long time, they barely knew you, and although they acted nice to your face, they wouldn't willingly jeopardize their friendship with Barry for you. But Dan was a different story, he knew you longer than anyone here, and he cared about you more than he cares about himself. So no, he wouldn't do it all for personal gain, it was for you, just like it always is.   
You pushed yourself up off the bed quickly, walking over to Dan and hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry I even doubted you for a second, I'm so sorry. There's just so much going on..."   
"Shh, shh, don't apologize. I know, this is hard for you, but, I love you, and I love you so much that I gave Barry a couple weeks to try to see if he'd stop with Melody because you seemed so happy with him, but I also love you enough to not want you to get two timed by someone like Barry." He placed his hands gently on your cheeks, tilting your head up to look at him. You stood on your tiptoes, still not tall enough to kiss him, so head craned his neck slightly so that you could. He kept his hands on your cheeks, holding you there, making the kiss last. You moved your hands from around his waist, up his back to the collar of his jacket pulling at it. He moved his hands from your cheeks and shimmied his arms out of his jacket, letting it drop to the floor and quickly returning his hands onto you, now at your hips, pulling you against him.   
When he pulled away you were breathless, but now Barry and your trashed apartment had slipped your mind, Dan was the only thing you were thinking about. He smiled sheepishly at you, your lips mimicking the sheepish smile, his fingers traced the creases at the corners of your lips.   
"Are you alright now?" He asked jokingly, a twinkle in his eye that you hadn't seen in what feels like forever.   
"I'm more than alright, will you stay here with me tonight?" You asked, your fingers playing at the hem of his shirt. He chuckled, a low throaty sound, so sexy that it sent tingles through your body.   
"Of course, but, I can't believe I'm saying this, no sex yet, alright." You cocked your head to the side and gave him a a pouty face. He swiped his finger over your bottom lip that was jutting out and it made a quiet little popping sound and you couldn't help but smile. He leaned in so that he could whisper in your ear. "I'm not saying I don't want to, I just don't want to in a shitty motel." He pulled away and placed his hands back on your hips. "Plus, I'd much rather wait until we get your apartment back in order and we can piss off the neighbors there." He winked and you couldn't help but giggle. Your heart was beating fast, and even with everything else that was going on in your life, Dan had found a way to make you smile and laugh.   
"So what's on your list of things to do today Daniel?" He laughed at how you said his name, then he playfully brought his finger up to his chin and tapped it a few times before answering.   
"We can stay here and order shitty room service and crappy food and pretend for the night that everything is perfect and the way that it should be." The way that his sentence began sounded like a joke, but as it went on it became more serious, his voice had become sentimental, more loving.  
"Yeah, the way it should be..." You trailed off, dwelling on his words.   
Your phone started ringing in your pocket, it was Barry calling. You held your finger up to Dan, and he shut his mouth, staying quiet so he could listen.

You answered the phone and put it on speaker so that Dan could hear more clearly.   
"I really need to talk to you, in person. Where are you at?" Barry started talking as soon as the call began.   
"I don't know what you'd need to say to me in person that you can't say over the phone." You said, your tone sassy. Dan gave you a thumbs up. He was sitting on the bed staring intently at you, his eyes following you as you paced the room.   
"I stopped by your apartment and knocked for like five minutes straight, you didn't answer. I just need to talk to you. I need to see you." He sounded desperate and you looked over to Dan, he was shaking his head, not as an answer, but in disapproval.   
"I don't want to see you, haven't you done enough already?" You leaned against the table that your phone was sitting on. Dan silently got up and wrapped his arms around you from behind, his chin resting on your shoulder.   
"That's what I need to talk to you about, but if you won't let me see you, I'll just tell you over the phone." You heard the large intake of breath from Barry's side of the call before he started talking again. "Okay, so Suzy told me that you know about Melody. Don't cut me off, please. I don't know how you know, I..." Another deep breath, and the sound of his fingers drumming quickly on the steering wheel. "I told everyone to keep quiet about it until I knew what was going on. Melody was a really good friend of mine in high school, and after high school she moved to Michigan for college, but she came back last month and I just found out a couple weeks ago, so I started hanging out with her and I wanted her to see what I've been doing as work, so I'd invite her over to the office. We've been getting closer than ever before, but she has a boyfriend back in Michigan." He paused for a second, giving you the chance to finally speak.   
"Why the hell do you think I give a shit about her boyfriend in Michigan? I don't care about her backstory, I want to know what the hell you two have been doing." Dan was playing with you hair now, tucking it behind your ear and attempting to braid it to keep himself busy.   
"I'm getting to that, just listen. So, she has a boyfriend, alright. One night while I was staying late in the office she was staying with me. I got hungry, so she made me a sandwich and when she brought it over to me she kissed me... And at first I was shocked, but it felt so right... Ever since then she comes to the office everyday and... Yeah we kiss. We talked about actually being together and she said that she'd have to break up with her boyfriend first..." The long pause indicated that he was waiting for a response. You were fuming inside, so utterly pissed and upset, you started yelling without warning.   
"So you were just going to keep me around and use me for as long as it took for her to break up with her fucking boyfriend!" Dan had stopped playing with your hair at this point and now had his hands wrapped around your waist again. "Is that why you destroyed my apartment? Because now you won't be able to jump from me to her immediately and you'll have to wait for her to-" Barry cut you off quickly.   
"Woah woah woah... What the fuck do you mean destroy your apartment? As soon as we broke up I left and waited in the lobby for Dan to pick me up." You turned your head to look at Dan, he shrugged snd you turned back to look at your phone.   
"So you didn't break my DVDs or cut open my mattress or any of that?" Dans arms were now gone and when you turned around you saw him pacing the room.   
"What the fuck? No, of course not. I'm not that big of a dick. Maybe you should ask security to look through tapes of the hallway to see who it could have been." Dan looked over to you and you nodded. You both agreed that it would be a better idea since you now knew that it wasn't Barry who had done it.   
"Alright, bye Barry." You about to hang up, but he started talking again.   
"Hey, I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt you, and I wasn't lying when I told you I loved you. It's just that, sometimes you love someone more than somebody else, you know?" You looked over to Dan who was sitting on the edge of the bed again, looking through his phone, completely unaware that you were even looking at him.   
"Yeah, I know. Bye." He said a quick goodbye and you hung up the phone.   
Dan got up, his keys in his hand, his jacket already on. "I think we should go ask about the security videos today. We should get the authorities involved now that we know it wasn't him." You were completely paranoid about who would do something like that, how they would have even gotten into your apartment and why they would have destroyed it.   
"Yeah, alright." You ran your hand through your hair, a habit that you had picked up from Dan. It was something you did when you were nervous or confused, and at the moment you were feeling both.   
"Don't worry, I'll get this all under control, it was probably just a petty thief or something." He opened the door and waited in the hallway for you to follow him out. Your movement was sluggish, your mind now thinking of who might be capable of doing something so cruel.   
You both walked down the hallway, side by side. He grabbed your hand nonchalantly and you twined your fingers between his, it made you feel a lot more comfortable when you felt his touch, knowing he was there made you feel more at peace, even in the most non-peaceful situations.   
You got outside and you both walked quietly over to his car. He opened the door for you and shut it softly when you got in. When he got in he sat there, staring thoughtfully out the window. You were about to ask what he was thinking about, but he turned to you and grabbed your hands before you could even begin.   
"_____, will you be my girlfriend?" He smiled sheepishly, you watched as his cheeks went from a rosy pink to lobster red.   
"Dan, come on."   
"Is it a bad time?" He let go of your hands and you quickly grabbed them back, holding them tighter.   
"No ya goof, it's not that. It's just that you don't really have to ask, you should already know that my answer is yes and I also told you this morning that when me and Barry break up that we'd be together." A wide grin spread across his face. He squeezed your hands and then moved them back to the steering wheel.   
"Awweh yeah, back with my girl again, fucking finally." He rhythmically tapped his hands on the steering wheel before pulling out of the parking spot.   
"You make it seem like you've been waiting forever for this to happen." You giggled and he looked over at you, taking one hand off the wheel to brush your hair behind your ear.   
"You don't even know. Seeing Barry doing everything with you that I should have been doing made it seem like much longer. Then he'd come home from the office and tell me that he was staying at your place... Did you guys-" you held up a hand to stop him from finishing the sentence.   
"Dan, it's not important. But to answer your question, yes, we did. Only once though." He nodded, thinking for a second, then another smile appeared on his lips, different from the smile that was there before. It was a sly smile, and you wondered what was on his mind and if he'd say what he was thinking.   
"Well don't you worry, I'll make sure to keep you satisfied, every night." You bit your lip and turned to look out the window so he wouldn't see you blushing. "You should wear blush, you look adorable when your cheeks are that color."   
"Hmm, maybe, probably not though. Don't know if you can tell but-"   
"I know, you don't like to wear makeup. It's cool, neither do I." You gasped jokingly, covering your mouth in pretend shock.   
"No way!" He rolled his eyes and pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, then your playful and joking composure was replaced with nervousness and fear.   
Dan pulled into a parking spot and you opened your door and got out, your movements were robotic. You didn't even realize that Dan was standing next to you until he put his hand around your waist and pulled you close to his side. If it wasn't for him starting to walk you'd probably still be in the parking lot, staring up at the apartment building like it was some kind of menacing enemy.   
Dan walked up to the reception desk and starting talking to the lady behind it, you weren't even listening to him, you were busy looking around the lobby, trying to see if anyone strange was there, anyone who might be responsible for what happened.   
"I'll call the security and see if they saw anything on the cameras." You turned back to look at the lady who was now on the phone. You looked up to Dan who was already looking down at you, the smile that was playing on his lips couldn't fully mask the concern that was more evident in his eyes. "They said they'll let you watch the tapes with them and then they'll go up and check out your apartment."   
"Thank you." Dan said and he guided you to one of the couches that were against the far wall of the lobby. He sat on the couch first, pulling you down with him and you leaned your head against his shoulder. You felt exhausted, not physically, but emotionally. You let yourself drift to sleep, trying to forget, even if only for a second, all the shit that's happened today, allowing yourself to find comfort in the feeling of Dans arm around you, his shoulder under your cheek and his hair brushing lightly against your forehead when he leaned his head against yours. He stayed as still as he possibly could, the only sound you could hear was his faint heart beat, his breathing, and the almost silent voice of the newscaster on TV.   
"____, hey, the security is here to talk to us." Dan whispered to you, you sat up feeling groggy. The security officers held out their hands for you and Dan to shake, then introduced themselves.   
"Good afternoon sir, ma'am. I'm officer Brackett and this is officer Meeker." He gestured toward the other officer who was staring at you intently. You shifted closer into Dan and his hold tightened on you as he talked to Officer Brackett about what happened. "Well would you two like to come down and take a look at the tapes? Ah, almost forget to take your names, what are they?" The officer pulled out a stack of post it notes and a pen.   
"My name is Leigh Avidan and this is _____ _________." As Officer Brackett was writing your names down, Officer Meeker started laughing.   
"She doesn't talk much, does she?" You about snapped your neck when you turned to look at him, and gave him a shitty glare. Dan moved his hand up to your shoulder and gave it light squeeze, immediately calming you.   
"Alright, follow me." Officer Brackett said. You and Dan got up to follow him with Officer Meeker in tow.   
The security area was in the basement, and Dans hold on your hand had become a death grip as you made your way down the long hallway to the little room in the back. There were computer monitors set up around the room, one for every camera that was in the apartment hallways. Officer Brackett told you and Dan to sit down and then asked you what floor your room was on. You answered quietly and he typed a few commands in and you watched as one of the videos on a monitor started to rewind.   
The he played the video again and you watched yourself walk out of your room. He started to fast forward again when nothing happened, then played it normal speed and you watched Barry walk out of your room. You asked the officer to pause the video, trying to see into your room.   
"He didn't do it..." You looked to Dan and he looked back at you confused. You pointed up to the screen, where you could see a little bit into the room. "When I went in there, one of the chairs from my table were out in the main room, I would have been able to see it in the video, but it's not there."   
Officer Brackett nodded and started playing the video again. Barry had never came back to your room, and he had stood at the door for a couple seconds, you knew he was locking the door. This scared you more than anything, because whoever had done it had lock picked into your apartment.   
You watched intently, the hallway was empty for a couple of minutes after Barry left and he was about to start fast forwarding again when another person came into view. They were wearing a black jacket with the hoodie on, and whoever it was made sure that their back was turned to the camera the whole time. You watched as this person stood in front of your door for a good two minutes before finally opening the door and making their way inside and closing the door behind themselves.   
Officer Brackett fat forwarded a little bit and started playing the video again when your door opened again. The person who walked out didn't have a bag like they had stolen anything, they had just gone into your apartment to trash it, or look for something... But who were they?   
"Did you move anything in your apartment? Did you touch anything?" Officer Brackett asked, you shook your head no. You had left everything as it was. "The person looked like they weren't wearing any gloves, so maybe we can dust for prints or maybe they left something behind."   
"What do you recommend she does Officer?" Dan asked, rubbing his thumb across yours. Officer Brackett looked to Officer Meeker who was looking at his phone.   
"Meeker, this is no time for games!" Officer Brackett said sternly, then turned to look at you and Dan. "I would recommend for her to stay at a motel or hotel until we get this all cleared up and figure out who this is. Do you stay with her?"   
"No sir, I don't. Would it be safer for her if I did?" Officer Brackett nodded and you finally felt yourself smile a little.   
"If it's possible, just try to keep her in your sight at all times. This person, whoever it is, they're not a thief, they have another motive, and until we figure it out, it would be better for her to be with someone." You finally cleared your throat and spoke up.   
"What if you can't find him? It won't be safe for me to go back to my apartment and I have..." You bit your lip hard, fighting back the tears that threatened to show themselves. "I have nowhere else to go."   
"Yes you do... Don't worry about any of this. They have it all under control." Dan said, looking up at Officer Brackett for some kind of confirmation, even if it was a lie, just to ease your mind.   
"Of course we do, you have nothing to worry about Ms. ______." You nodded, not believing it for a second, but just wanting to get it over with. Officer Meeker asked for your room key so that they'd have access to it and you hesitantly handed it to him before you and Dan walked out of the little room, Officer Brackett leading you and Dan back up to the lobby. "We'll get back with you when we have anything for you." You nodded again and turned to walk back out into the parking lot to your car.   
"Hold up, what are you doing?" Dan asked as you were about to open your car door.   
"Driving back to the motel... Look, it would be great if you could stay with me at the motel until they find out what's going on, but I can't expect that of you." You turned back to your car and reached out to grab the door handle. Dan grabbed your hand and intertwined his fingers in yours.   
"I'm staying with you, even if you don't expect it from me, even if you don't want me to, even if you get tired of me by day two. I'm going to be there." You groaned and he laughed. "There ya go!" You walked with him over to his car sluggishly. "I know you're trying to annoy me, but I'll have you know that I'm not easily annoyed, so you'll have to try a little bit harder than that." You looked up to him and stuck out your tongue playfully and he mockingly did it back. When you made it to the car he opened the door for you.   
"Would you like to buckle me in too?" You asked jokingly as you got in.   
"If you'd like me to." He cheekily smiled and you sighed. He shut the door and tapped the hood of the car on his way around to the drivers side. You reclined the seat and closed your eyes for a second, trying to compose yourself. You weren't agitated with him, although it may seem that way, you were just stressed about the whole situation at hand. When Dan got in the car he leaned over and kissed your forehead, causing you to open your eyes and look at him.   
"Don't worry darling, everything will be alright." He brushed your hair away from your face, looking deeply into your eyes.  
"How did you know I was thinking about that?" He poked at different points of your face; the corners of your lips, the spot between your eyebrows, the corners of your eyes and your forehead.   
"Your face is very readable, you're worried, but you have no reason to be. If it comes down to it, I'll help you look for a new apartment if you don't feel safe at this one." You smiled and he patted your knee. "There's that smile, I love it, have I ever told you that?"   
"All the time back in Jersey." He closed his eyes, a smile mirroring your own on his lips as he reminisced about old times in Jersey, simpler times that you wish you could go back to.


	8. Chapter 8

You sat at the oddly placed dining room like table in the motel room, staring out the window blankly. Dan was pacing the room, a single floor board creaking every time he stepped on it. You wondered at this point if he was stepping on it purposely just to have some noise in the room. You got up out of the chair and pushed it in loudly to get his attention. He stopped pacing and you walked over to him, standing in front of him. You stood on your tiptoes and placed your hands on his shoulders.   
"You're worrying more than I am at this point. You said it yourself, there's nothing to worry about, you're making me think differently." He shook his head then leaned his forehead against your own.   
"I'm just trying to think of who it could be." He started walking again, your arms dropping to your sides. You stood there, waiting for him to turn back towards you. "Do you know anyone who would do this? Ex boyfriends... Other than Barry?" He had made his way back to you and was running his hand through his hair.   
"No... I mean... There was one guy in high school my last year, but he wasn't even like my boyfriend. We only dated a week, he was a nut. But he wouldn't have been able to find me." You didn't think he would be able to find you, you didn't think he'd even try. After you and him had broken up he had been put in a psychiatric ward and you hadn't seen him since.   
"How was he a nut? What do you mean he was a nut? Explain 'nut'." You looked down at the floor, thinking of what to actually say. A million words went through your mind to describe him, but none of them seemed to come together into a sentence. Finally you took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, giving yourself a few extra seconds of time to think.   
"Well, he was a, uhm, very obsessive, possessive person. He was a loner, and I felt bad for him, so I tried to be his friend, and then he asked me out and I would have felt bad if I said no... And that week that we were together, it was horrible. He said that if I ever broke up with him he'd kill me and himself. He would try to keep me from hanging out with my friends and when I did he'd freak out and start hitting himself. The last time, the reason I actually broke up with him... I was walking home from school with my friends, and he had followed us in his car, and when we were crossing the street he tried to run my friends and me over, then he pulled me into the car and just started..." You stopped talking, swallowing back the bile that rose in your throat due to thinking about it. Dan tilted your head back with his finger under your chin, his eyes hinting their own pain just from listening to you speak about it.   
"Did he hit you?" He asked, choking on the last two words, not even wanting to say them together. You nodded slowly, watching the look of anger and disgust flash across his face.   
"My friends called the cops and he got arrested. He pleaded insanity at the trial, and they put him in the ward. It's been seven years though, I doubt he'd actually look for me." You looked down, Dans fists were clenched tightly together. He was breathing quick and heavy, his eyes closed tightly. "Dan... Calm down please." You watched as the tension slowly left him, not fully, but enough for him to open his eyes and look at you.   
"You don't know that it's not him though... But I promise you that if it is that piece of shit I'll fucking kill him first chance I get." His fingers twitched in anger, you thought of Dan fighting him and your stomach did flips.   
"Can you please... Just... Let's stop talking about it, he makes me sick." You went to sit on the bed, staring at your hands. Dan sat next to you and wrapped his arm around your shoulder, you leaned against him.   
"I'm sorry, it just pisses me off. I'll stop though. I'm really sorry." He pulled you onto his lap and you buried your face into his chest, inhaling deeply, his distinct smell comforting you and making you feel more at peace. "So, what do you want to do? It's only two in the afternoon, you don't want to stay cooped up in this room all day." He twirled a strand of your hair around his finger.   
"I wouldn't mind it if you were to stay here with me." Your voice muffled, face still buried in his chest, you spoke quietly, it was a thought that was spoken, and you thought that you had said it quiet enough for him not to hear, but the low moan in his throat told otherwise.   
"Well I can't argue with that logic. Guess we're staying in tonight." You finally looked up, he was staring forward contently, he didn't have a problem staying in either, his thoughts the same as yours. You planted a kiss on his neck and you heard his breath catch in his throat, then slowly release in a long sigh.   
"Whatcha thinking 'bout?" You asked, breaking the silence. You were leaning against his chest still, no longer aware of time, you didn't know how long you've been sitting there, and it didn't really matter. Your thoughts were at ease, and if you could have it your way, you wouldn't leave the hotel room, you would be perfectly fine spending every day with Dan.   
"You, and how adorable you look right now." He brushed his hand against the back of your cheek, drawing your attention up to his face. You met his eyes and they held you, your mind went blank, the only thing you could partially think of was the perfection that was him. He had no flaws, everything about him, inside and out was flawless.   
He laid down on the bed, pulling you with him, you ended up beside him nestled closely against him, your head still against his chest, your head rising and falling with every breath he took. You looked down and saw that his legs were hanging off the end of the bed, your soft giggles breaking the perfect silence.   
"What's so funny?" He asked, intrigued.   
"You're so tall, your legs must be uncomfortable." He wiggled his toes and shrugged.   
"Not at all. But if you'd like, we could scoot up, get comfy and watch some TV." You nodded, getting up for a second so that Dan could adjust himself and get comfortable under the blankets while you grabbed the remote off of the tv stand. When you came back over to the bed Dans arm was already outstretched and ready for you to lay on.   
You slipped under the blankets and rested your head back on his chest while he grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. He flipped through the channels quickly, trying to find a channel that you both would enjoy and finally settled for Cartoon Network. He sighed in agitation as the theme to Adventure Time started playing.   
"Hey, at least we're not stuck watching the public broadcasting station, it could be worse." He was tracing shapes on your back, it was a soothing feeling. Even though you both didn't really like Adventure Time, it wasn't like you were watching it anyway. It was just background noise so that the silence wouldn't seem so awkward.   
"I guess you're right. I just really don't like this show, this hotel needs to invest in some HBO or Showtime or something." He sounded serious, but when you looked up at him he smiled and laughed, his chest vibrated underneath your head. Once he stopped laughing he began talking again, this time he was honestly serious. "You want to maybe go out to eat? It's on me." Your stomach grumbled when you thought about eating, you were quite hungry, but you couldn't go out to eat in what you were wearing.   
"I can't, I'm in a hoodie and sweatpants, it would just be too embarrassing." You didn't really want to order room service or a pizza from the local pizzeria, but you'd have to settle until you could go back to your apartment and get your clothes.   
"Well, I think you look absolutely ravishing, I don't know what you're talking about. Plus, we don't have to go to a fancy restaurant, we can go to Fridays or something, or Applebee's." Your mouth was salivating, the thought of an Applebee's burger was enough to make you not worry about your outfit.   
"Alright fine, Applebee's, but I'll pay for it. You should remember how I am with that kind of stuff." You turned onto your stomach and rested your chin on your hands looking straight at him.   
"Ahh, but you should also remember that I don't give a damn and I'm paying." He poked your nose and you rolled your eyes as he got up out of the bed. You dropped your face into the blanket and groaned, why was he so damn persistent about that kind of shit? "Come on, you know I'd never let you pay for your own food when I'm the one taking you out. Don't be grumpy because I'm a gentleman." You got up out of the bed and childishly stomped over to where he was standing. He was already at the door wearing his leather jacket and tossing his keys from one hand to the other, keeping himself occupied while waiting for you to stop acting like a baby.   
"I'm not being grumpy." He held the door open for you and as he walked out you heard him mumble a sassy 'mmhm'. You looked up at him from the corner of your eyes and you couldn't help but smile when you looked at him. He was looking down at you, smiling cheerfully. He grabbed your hand and started swinging it back and forth as you walked to the elevator, and you usually weren't into stuff like that, but you couldn't even be mad, he just looked so happy, like you were some sort of grand prize that he got to proudly flaunt around.   
When you got in the elevator you stood in the corner, he was standing in front of you, he had a hand on each side of you, gripping onto the railing. He was leaning over you, his forehead resting on the top your head. You looked up and gave him a kiss, thinking it would be quick, but he leaned into the kiss making it last longer, a low throaty moan escaping his lips when they parted.   
"If we were on a higher floor we could do some kinky shit in this elevator." He said jokingly when he pulled away. You felt your face get warmer, thinking about it made you blush. You tried to hide your face in his chest but he took a step back to look at you. "You're as red as an apple, it's the cutest."  
The elevator doors opened and you walked out quickly, trying to give your face time to return back to its normal color before anyone saw you. Dan came up behind you, putting his hands on your hips forming what looked like a two person conga line. He gave them a soft quick squeeze making you jump a little, which in turn caused him to laugh. The people in the lobby turned to look at the both of you, Dan was still laughing loudly while you tried to squirm out of his hold which only made him laugh harder. You groaned in agitation, giving up on trying to get out of his hold and now focusing on trying to make it out of the lobby quickly, the old people shaking their heads and the middle aged people rolling their eyes made you self conscious.   
When you finally made it outside Dan let go of your hips and held your hand as you walked to his car. "You couldn't just hold my hand while we walked through the lobby?" He lightly chuckled in response.   
"Of course not, you blush when you're embarrassed and I just love seeing it." He brushed your cheek with the back of his hand that was still holding yours. "I'm not doing it to really embarrass you, you know that I'd never purposely do that, I just love seeing the color in your cheeks." He held his hand on your cheek a little longer before dropping it to open the door for you.   
"I'll start wearing blush, just don't do that anymore." You said as he got in the car. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel a couple times before looking over at you.   
"Nope, I like a good, genuine reddish pink. Not that fake shit." You leaned your head against the window, looking at the sky. Grey clouds were rolling in, bringing a cool breeze with them. Rain was in the forecast for today which made you extremely happy, if you were at your apartment you would have opened your windows to allow the breeze and mist in.   
You closed your eyes and thought more about your apartment, wishing you could at least go in and get some clothes. As of right now, no one but the cops could go in there so they could dust for fingerprints. You didn't know how long it would take for them to do that, but you did know that you couldn't stay in the same clothes for more than one day.   
"What are you thinking about?" He was at a red light and in the reflection of the window you could see he was looking at you.   
"My clothes..." It sounded stupid to you when you said it, with everything that was going on you'd be thinking about your wardrobe and what you were going to wear.   
"Well I don't think the cops are going to be raising your underwear, so I think you'll be good." You looked over at him and he was smiling, his body vibrating from the laughter he was holding in from his own joke. "I'm joking, but if you need some clothes we can stop off at the mall and I'll get you some."   
"Stop it, okay. There's many reasons we can't do that." His eyebrows drooped over his eyes, casting a shadow over them. He honestly didn't understand. "If the person who broke into my apartment is there he could follow me, that's one thing. Second is, if people see us out together they'll take pictures and post them on the Internet and if Barry sees it'll cause tension and I don't want that for you." His lips formed a straight line as he thought about what you said, finally nodding.   
"It's bullshit, we have to hide ourselves because of a psycho and Barry." His was tapping excessively on the steering wheel. "And this fucking red light has been red for a really long god damn time." You reached out and put your hand on top of his, stopping his tapping. You were worried about him, he had so much on his mind and you could tell. He tried so hard to keep calm and be cool and collected, but you could see right through him. He was supposed to film some of the scenes from his music video Party of Three but now he's holding off on that just to watch out for you.   
"Dan..." You didn't know what to say, you just wanted him to calm down. "I love you." And although it didn't seem like a good time to say it, it calmed you when he said it, so hopefully it would work for him.   
He slid his hand out from underneath yours and placed it on top. "I love you too." His voice was mellow, you slid your fingers between his and moved his and your hands onto your lap. "I'm sorry, it just agitates me. I don't want us to be a secret, I want to show you off the way you should be." You looked down at your hand and twirled your thumb around his.   
"I know, and when this all blows over you can." You didn't look up, but the tension that you could feel emanating from him slowly faded. He sighed loudly, running his free hand through his hair.   
He pulled into the parking lot of the Applebee's, circling around the parking lot a few times trying to find an open parking spot. Finally finding one, he quickly pulled into it. "It's going to be crowded in there, I hope there's a table open." He said to himself, his eyes wandering around the parking lot.   
"It's alright, I can wait, I'm not even that hungry." You lied, your stomach growling proving you wrong. Dan heard it and sighed.   
"I'm not keeping you waiting, you're hungry. If the wait time is too long we're going somewhere else." Your lips formed a straight line and you nodded.

You and Dan walked into the waiting area of the Applebee's, there weren't many people waiting, but you could see that the restaurant was packed. There were so many people talking, the noise filled your ears. You tried to focus on one certain set of voices, particularly the ones from the people waiting.   
"We've been here for almost an hour, this is why I told you to reserve a spot Jim." You heard a lady say to the man beside her. Dan must have heard it too, he turned back around and led you out the same doors you had just walked through.   
"An hour, who the hell waits an hour for Applebee's?" You shrugged, all hopes of getting a cheeseburger went out the window. You wouldn't argue it though, waiting an hour would be ridiculous and you didn't want to do that, it wasn't worth it. "You like Fudruckers?" You nodded quickly, you hadn't had Fudruckers in forever, but it brought back memories from your childhood when you and your family would all pile into the car and drive two hours just to go eat there.

The ride there was long, Dan had put in one of his Rush CDs and you both sang along to every song. Dan would play air drums while steering with his knees which would always make you panic.   
You had hoped and prayed the whole way there that it wasn't crowded and much to your surprise, it wasn't.   
"Thank god!" You murmured to yourself as Dan pulled into a parking spot right near the entrance.   
"I know, plus, this place is so much better than Applebee's." You nodded in agreement, getting out of the car and rushing over to Dans side.   
"Come on, come on!" You opened his door for him, impatient, just wanting to get inside.   
"I'm coming, hold up. Alright alright, let's go." You grabbed his hand and walked inside, your steps were bouncy and he rolled his eyes. "Look who's being the embarrassing one now." He said sarcastically.   
"Oh shut up, I'm excited, have you ever been here before!?" Like a child in a toy store you did a turned around fully, taking in the retro decor of the restaurant.   
"Of course I've been here, I've just never seen anyone act like you have. It's only Fudruckers." You scoffed at the remark, holding your hands over your mouth in exaggerated shock.   
"Say that one more time and we're over." You joked, pulling your hand away from him and folding your arms across your chest. He shook his head and put his arm around your waist, pulling you close to his side.   
"Don't say that, losing you isn't a joke to me." He leaned in close to whisper it in your ear. You didn't think you would ever fully understand how much you meant to Dan, but you suspected that you meant a lot just by the way he looked at you. It was different from the way he looked at everyone else, more alive, more attentive, like your every move, every expression was of the utmost importance to him and he didn't want to miss any of it.   
"How many?" A young woman standing behind a podium asked, drawing both yours and Dans attention back to reality.   
Dan held up two fingers and the woman nodded, then another lady showed up with two menus in hand.   
"Follow me, I'll show you to your table." She started walking and Dan cleared his throat.   
"Can we get like, a private table, maybe? I'll pay extra for it." She nodded and her course changed to a set of double doors that led into a small, secluded, dimly lit room in the back of the restaurant.   
"Will this do?" She was very polite and soft spoken, you and Dan sat down at a table in the far corner and Dan nodded.   
"This is perfect, thank you." He pulled out his wallet and handed the lady smiled, taking the money and slipping it into the front of her apron.   
You looked out the window, watching the cars go by, occupying yourself while waiting for Dan to speak. He reached across the table and took one of your hands in both of his. Your gaze drifted from the window to his face, the look of love and adoration in his eyes made your heart feel like it was melting. You had never seen that look in anyone else's eyes, not even Barry's, maybe that's why you were so unaccustomed to it, why your stomach felt like it was filled with a million butterflies every time you seen it. Maybe one day you'll get used to it, maybe one day you'll be able to understand why he looked at you that way. You weren't used to being loved, and although Barry had said that he did, his actions proved otherwise, and your heart still secretly yearned to be with Dan. That's why no matter who told you they loved you, you never felt this way, you could never honestly reciprocate the feeling.   
Your mother had always told you that things will fall into place in good time, and when they do you'd know it, and this must have been what she meant. Although things weren't perfect, they almost seemed as if they were when you were with Dan, it felt as if everything was in fact falling into place.   
This had to be the time she was referring to, this had to be the good time.


	9. Chapter 9

The meal was delicious, you sat back in your chair looking at the tiny sliver of cheeseburger still left in the basket tray on the table. Dan had finished eating his meal before you, he had practically inhaled it, and he had watched you eat, laughing when little bits of tomato would fall out of your burger, or when ketchup would ooze out and plop into the tray.   
"I don't think I can eat another bite." You mumbled, then taking a long sip of your drink.   
"I don't think you should, you look like you're going to throw up. Are you going to be alright?" Always concerned with your wellbeing, you nodded. Of course you'd be alright, you just have to give your stomach time to digest the burger. You had went from an empty stomach to full in a matter of minutes and apparently you just weren't ready for that.   
Dans phone vibrated on the table, finally taking his gaze away from you. You were beginning to feel a little self conscious and you were happy that his attention was deterred, even if it was only for a few seconds.   
His eyebrows wavered, wrinkles formed on his forehead as he read over the text. "Fuck..." He muttered under his breath, you became worried, assuming the worst. "Look at this." Dan handed his phone over to you and you read over the text.

**Hey man, so there's a picture on Reddit, it was uploaded like twenty minutes ago, kinda looks like you and ____ out at a restaurant or some shit. Barry seen it, he's sort of flipping out... You think you can maybe come over and tell us what's going on? Oh... Here's the link.**

You opened the link and stared at the picture for a while. It was definitely you and Dan, he was holding your hands across the table. The picture looked like it was taken from really close, but you didn't remember anyone coming in or passing through the private area where you and Dan were sat. You suspected that they might have snapped the picture as they passed by the window, but you couldn't be entirely sure.   
You handed Dans phone back to him, he was pulling at his bottom lip, staring out the window, his eyes clouded over. He didn't even look at you when you handed him his phone back.   
"I'm sorry Dan, I should have know this was a bad idea. I mean, I was the one that said that we shouldn't be seen out in public together." His eyes never looked to you, but his hand dropped down to the table and he licked his lips before he began talking.   
"It's not your fault, I'm not mad. I'm worried, if that psychopath seen the picture he could be outside waiting for us to come out and follow us. You need to come with me to Arins house to talk about this, I need you with me to know you're safe." His eyes finally drifted over to meet yours. You shook your head, you didn't want to face them, everyone, all of your friends questioning you and Dan, you just couldn't be around for that.   
"I'll be fine at the hotel, I'll keep the door locked and if it makes you feel any better, I'll put a chair in front of the door, maybe even the dining table." Your jokes failed to lighten the mood, so you sunk back in your chair, your eyes dropping to the basket trays, then to the little ice cubes floating in your cup, anything to keep yourself from looking up to see Dans stern and serious face.   
"Look, I know you think you can just be left alone at the hotel, but, there is some crazed maniac out there looking for you, and nothing is going to stop him from getting you if he finds you. That scares the shit out of me."   
"You're not going to be gone that long and-" he attempted to cut you off but you held your hand up, silencing him. "Dan, if the maniac does find me, I have a phone, I can call the police, I can call you. I'll be fine." Dan shook his head, frustrated with your persistence and stubbornness, sighing loudly in aggravation.   
"Fine, but I'm walking you up to the room and testing to see if you really lock the door. If anything does happen, I want you to text me as soon as possible, okay." You nodded, glad that you had finally come to an agreement, even though he didn't really like this idea, you wouldn't agree to going with him.   
As you and Dan left Fudruckers his eyes scanned the restaurant, looking to see if anyone suspicious was around. He did the same thing in the parking lot, squeezing your hand and pulling you closer to his side whenever he seen anything or anyone that looked even the tiniest bit suspicious to him.   
The ride back to the hotel consisted of him begging you to go with him and you saying no about a million times. That was half of the ride, the other half was angry silence on his behalf due to what he said was your lack of concern about your own self. You didn't bother to explain to him that it wasn't that you lacked concern, it was that you lacked the courage to stand in front of Barry and his best friends and try to explain to them that you left Barry- even if under the right circumstances- and immediately got back with Dan. Not that it was a bad thing, you were beyond happy to be back with Dan, it was all you wanted, but you just didn't think they'd understand.   
Dan walked you into the hotel room, watching you for a second as you sat down on the bed. When he turned to leave you sighed, causing him to turn back around.   
"What?" He was still irritated, you could hear it in his voice.   
"I don't want you to be mad at me, you're not even going to say goodbye, I don't get a hug or anything?" He walked over to you, pulling you up off the bed and into his arms.   
"I just don't like saying goodbye..." He said, his voice close to a whisper, the words were choked out. You felt bad, you were causing him this pain and why? Because you were too much of a puss to be honest? But you knew that facing them would be much too hard for you, even with Dan there, you wouldn't be able to do it.   
"You'll be back soon and I'll be right here waiting for you, everything will be fine, there's nothing to worry about. What are you going to do when you have to record Game Grumps episodes? Are you going to worry the whole time then?" He thought for a second, then quickly shook his head no.   
"I'm going to take you with me when I record so I know that you're okay." You knew you wouldn't be able to get away with saying no to that. Dan would most likely be gone six to seven hours a day when he recorded new episodes, and you knew too well that Dan wouldn't be comfortable with you being alone that long.   
"Alright, you should probably get going, talk to everyone, tell them about the picture." He nodded, planted a small kiss on your forehead then left. You immediately locked the door and scooted a chair up under the knob.   
You moved onto the bed, propping a few pillows up and then leaning against them, grabbing the remote off the night table and clicking on the tv.   
As you surfed through the channels you heard your phone go off in your purse. You got up, stretching your legs over the edge of the bed, then placing them on the floor. You had suspected it would be a text from Dan, asking if you were okay, and you didn't want to keep him waiting, fueling his unnecessary worry by procrastinating. Taking your phone out from your purse you seen that it was an unknown number that had texted you.

**Good evening sweetheart.**

You read over the number again, thinking that maybe it was someone you knew who had gotten their number changed or someone had just gotten the wrong number. Your phone chimed again.

**I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually stay alone in the hotel room with everything that's going on. But, then again, it's so like you to think that you're capable of taking care of yourself in times like these. I guess I could say that my plan with the picture worked.**

You looked over to the door, then ran to the window to shut the blinds. You went into the bathroom and locked yourself in there.

**Now, my plan isn't fully finished yet, I need you to open the door. We can do it the easy way or the hard way, I would suspect that you'd like to do it the hard way since you're such a fucking hard headed bitch, but, maybe you changed.**

You quickly texted Dan, screenshotting what was being sent to you and then told him to call the police and send them to the hotel and to get there as quickly as possible.

**You know, I changed a lot in seven years. After you got me thrown into fucking jail, I changed for the better. I joined the military, and, well, since I had to plead insanity so that I wouldn't have to stay in jail longer, they wouldn't let me near the guns, I was stuck doing some boring shit, but I changed.**

Dan had texted you back and you quickly checked to see what he said.   
**Alright, I called the police, they're on their way. Are you alright? Where are you? Is he in the hotel room?**

You decided to text back to the unknown number, humor them until the police showed up.   
**Christopher, wow, it's been a while... How's everything going?**  
You were scared to death, regretting your decision to stay at the hotel as you sat in the bathtub waiting for Dan to get back to let you know everything is okay.

**Don't try to small talk me, of course it's been a while. I've been in a padded room for four years eating nothing but soup and sandwiches with a bunch of fucking psychos. IM NOT A FUCKING PSYCHO!**  
You heard the front door bang and jumped. Then another text came in.   
**Look, just let me in and we can talk about this.**  
You heard sirens wailing from outside, they were out front of the hotel. You received one last text.   
**YOU FUCKING BITCH YOU CALLED THE COPS!!!!**  
The fire alarms started to go off throughout the hotel, the sound of people filling the hallways, asking what's going on. Your stomach sank, as you stood up and climbed out of the bathtub, unlocking the bathroom door and peaking into the main part of the hotel room.   
There was a knock at your door and you hesitantly pulled the chair away from the door knob and unlocked the door. Dan swung the door back and pulled you to his chest immediately. You could feel his heart pounding, his breathing was heavy and labored, like he run all the way here.   
When you finally pulled away from Dan you saw three cops standing at the doorway, one was holding a phone in gloved hands while another was holding a forensics bag. It must have been the phone that Christopher was using.   
"How did he find you?" Dan asked quietly, the cops were still at the door talking amongst themselves, the fire alarms had stopped blaring and people were now returning to their own rooms.   
"I don't know, it's like he's been following me. I'm sorry Dan, I should have went with you." He shook his head, holding your face in his hands, brushing his thumbs under your eyes, wiping away the tears as they fell.   
"Don't be sorry, I shouldn't have went, especially with everything that's going on. I was stupid to have even left you here alone. I'm so sorry." He dropped his head, his hair forming a curtain around his face. You felt like shit that he was blaming himself for what happened. It would have been worse if you would have went, Christopher would have found out where the Grump office was and that would have been way worse.   
An officer came over to where you and Dan were standing, holding a bag with the cellphone that Christopher had been using in it.   
"We're going to try to get fingerprints off of this if there are any. Now, we have a few questions, are you alright to answer them?" You nodded, trying to compose yourself so you could just get this over with. "Alright, now we need to know if you know this man? Have you had any contact with him over the past couple months? Is there any reason he might be doing what he's doing?" You tried to remember the questions as he asked so you could answer them in the order that he asked them.   
"Yes, I know him. His name is Christopher Hoff. I haven't talked to him at all or even thought about him for the last seven years. I got him arrested seven years ago for abuse, he was put in a nut house, he might be upset about that. He broke into my apartment and completely trashed it. " The officer was writing down everything you said on a notepad. He flipped the notepad shut and slipped it into his pocket.   
"Thank you ma'am, we should be done here. If we find anything or find him we'll contact you. If anything happens in the meantime, please don't hesitate to call, especially if you feel threatened." You nodded and Dan rubbed your back, you both watched as the officers left and shut the door behind them.   
"Are you sure you're alright?" You shook your head, turning to face him, trying to think of what to say.   
"I... I'm pretty shaken up, you know? I mean, it's been seven damn years and he tracks me down using God knows what to find me, and I'm just worried."   
"You have nothing to be worried about though, I'm going to make sure that he doesn't get to you." You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath before grabbing his hand and leading him over to sit next to you on the bed.   
"I'm not worried about myself..." You watched his expression change from concern to confusion. "I'm worried about you and everyone else." He looked disappointed at your lack of concern about yourself. He ran his hand through his hair and laid back on the bed staring up at the ceiling.   
"You don't have to worry about the rest of us, we're fine. He's after you, not us." You leaned back on your elbows and looked down at him, he was staring at you, trying to figure out what you were thinking.   
"But what if he tries to get to one of you and like... I don't know, hold you hostage or something-" he put his finger over your lips to silence you.   
"____, this isn't a movie... He's one guy, he's not going to hold me and everyone else hostage, it would be impossible." He was right, but you still were worried. You didn't want Dan to be alone, fearing that Christopher would be waiting for him around some corner and attack him.   
"You're not going to leave me here alone anymore, are you?" Not that you expected him to always be right there with you, but you just assumed it would be that way until Christopher was found.   
"Absolutely not. You're coming with me wherever I go. And you better not throw a damn fit about it cause I'm not going to argue with you about it. Now that we know that he knows where you're at, you're not to be alone." You nodded, he was so serious about this that you knew not to even try to debate it.   
You laid on his chest and let out a yawn. He brushed your hair behind your ear and started humming the melody to a song that you've never heard as he played with a loose strand of your hair.   
You both laid in silence, the light tugging at the single strand of hair was oddly satisfying. You found yourself slowly drifting into a light sleep, his humming lulling you.

You woke up disoriented, not knowing when you fell asleep or how long you had been sleeping. You were now at the top of the bed, tucked cozily under the comforter. You reached out your hand to feel across the bed and were pleased to feel that Dan was laying next to you. You let your hand roam up and down his chest a few times before moving closer to him. He breathed out a soft sigh and instinctively laid his arm out for you to rest your head on. You didn't know if he was awake or not, it was dark, the sun had went down a while ago, the small amount of light that came into the room was from the moon shining through the little slits of the blinds or the headlights from cars that drove by on the streets below.   
You stared up at the ceiling, trying to adjust your eyes so you could see in the darkness. You were unable to fall back asleep, so you watched as the light from the cars flashed across the ceiling at random intervals.   
After about five minutes of that your eyes began to wander the room. The small light from the bathroom seemed bright now, the light from the hallway outside of your room made its way under the door and lit up the entrance. You watched as the shadow of someone's feet walked in front of your door, and then back the other way. Your paranoia didn't set in until the eighth time around and the person still seemed to be pacing in front of your door. Lightly shaking Dan, he jolted out of his sleep.   
"Who? What?! Are you alright?" He was sitting straight up now, the whites of his eyes seemed to be glowing in the darkness.   
"Shh... Someone is standing outside of our door, they're pacing..." The disappearance of his glowing eyes might it obvious to you that he was now watching the door to see what you were talking about. You watched with him, waiting for the person to come back, but they never did. He fell back on the bed and yawned loudly. "Dan I'm serious, there was somebody out there."   
"I'm not saying I don't believe you, but maybe it was somebody going to their room or something. Go back to sleep darling." You rolled your eyes, you knew that it wasn't just someone going to their room, whoever it was, they were at your room for a reason. You laid back down, getting as close to Dan as possible, and pulled the covers up over yourself. It would be a lie to say that you weren't scared, but you didn't want to burden Dan with your worries, so you closed your eyes and thought of something happy, trying to force yourself to go back to sleep.   
Dan had immediately started to snore again, and you were happy that he didn't snore loudly, it was a hushed sound, one that sent a feeling of serenity and peace through you. You squeezed your eyes shut, focusing solely on the sound of Dans breathing and drifted back to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The sunlight shone through the blinds, perfectly aligning with your eyes. When you finally opened them you were blinded, you brought your arm up over your eyes to try to block out the sun.   
"Good morning my little vampire." You heard from across the room. You playfully hissed in response and Dan chuckled. "You look well rested." He coyly smiled and you quickly got up to see what he meant. Standing in front of the mirror you saw that your hair was frazzled and standing up in all directions. You had dried up drool on the corner of your mouth that you quickly wiped away while Dan wasn't looking.  
"I wish I felt it. How long have you been up?" You looked around and saw that there were two cups of coffee on the table, they weren't there last night, so he had to have gotten them this morning.   
"Long enough to take a shower and run downstairs to get some coffee. Did you know that they have a coffee machine in the lobby and you can just get the coffee for free! It's awesome!" You wondered how he was able to do all this stuff, it still seemed so early, or maybe you just woke up so late that your time perception was off.   
"What time is it now?" He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and then shoved it back in after a millisecond of looking at it.   
"11:42, you slept pretty long. I know you woke up in the middle of the night and said something about someone walking in front of the door but you must have went back to bed." You nodded and sat down at the table, turning one of the coffee cups between your hands.   
"You told me it was nothing to worry about, so I went back to bed. Oh... Can you grab me my phone off the nightstand?" He followed your eyes to where you phone was at and walked over to grab it for you. As he carried it over he turned it on and looked at your lock screen before handing it to you.   
"What's wrong?" The look in his eyes made your stomach do a flip. You looked down to see what could be causing him to look the way he did. He stood behind you, reading over your shoulder the number that showed up on the screen. "I don't know who it is..." You unlocked your phone and it went straight to your texts.

**Your plan failed to work, maybe next time you should advise your toothpick to tell the police not to use their sirens. But, don't worry, I'll be back.**

"Jesus Christ, when was that sent?" You checked the time stamp, and shook your head.   
"At like 6:45, almost an hour after he did what he did yesterday. He must have a shit ton of phones ready. Wait, there's more..." Dan was about to walk away but came back to stand behind you when you told him that there were more texts.   
"Read them, and tell me what time." His eyes continued to dart from your phone to the front door and he'd intermittently take a sip of his coffee.

**You're probably wondering how I found you, and since instead of letting me in you decided to call the cops, I guess I'll just tell you. See, being in the military, I learned how to track things and people, learned a lot of shit about that kind of stuff... So I thought, hell, why not use it for my own good.  
Don't worry though, I'm standing guard outside of your room, making sure no psychos come around since you're so scared of them. This is a pretty shitty hotel you're staying at, you never know what might happen.**

"That one... Was from 3:00 in the morning Dan... It was him outside of the room..." Dan starting pacing, his chest rising and falling in quick angry breaths. He walked back over to the table and slammed his fists down on it causing you to jump. You had never seen him even partially violent, so this scared you.   
"I'm getting you out of here, you can come to my apartment." He said it quietly, like he was worried that someone would hear him.   
"Dan, that's just going to put everyone else at risk. He already said that he's been tracking me, he'll find me." You dropped your head and quickly wiped the back of your hand across your eye so Dan wouldn't see your tears.   
"If there's more people than that means more people to help defend you if he does come around. _____, look at me..." When you lifted your head he was down on his knees in front of you. He placed his hands on your face, making you look directly at him. "I would never, will never let anything happen to you, believe me." He brushed his thumb under your eyes, feeling the wetness from your tears on his fingers. "Don't cry, you have nothing to worry about."

 

Dan looked around the hallway, his eyes like a hawk as you left the hotel room. His hold on your hand was tight, if this were any other time you'd complain about it, but you felt completely numb. You tried to block out every feeling and every thought, focusing only on yours and Dans feet as you walked in synch down the long hall to the elevators.   
It seemed like the elevator took forever to reach the second floor, and when it finally did Dan hurriedly got inside. You tried as hard as you could to keep up with him, all of his rushed movements and long strides as the elevator got to the bottom floor. He stepped out quickly while you moved like a zombie, your head hanging as you continued to watch your feet. You bumped into somebody and they grunted in response, you didn't even open your mouth to say sorry, let alone think about saying sorry until you and Dan were out of the hotel and in the parking lot walking to his car.   
"_____, are you going to be okay?" Dan stopped next to the passenger side of his car, leaning against the door so that you wouldn't try to escape the question. You knew that he wouldn't just let a simple nod be the answer, so you shrugged.   
"I don't know, I guess." You mumbled, your head still drooped. You shuffled your feet feeling nervous, or maybe just uncomfortable, probably both. Dan stepped away from the car door and opened it for you. "Thank you." You mumbled as you began getting in. Dan stopped you and lifted your chin up, your eyes strayed, trying to look at anything but his piercing eyes that seemed like they could see right through you.   
"Hey, everything's going to be okay." You nodded slowly, his finger still under your chin. He leaned in and gave you a quick kiss, most likely meant to soothe you or at least ease your worries for a minute or two. Sadly it didn't, you were waiting for another text from Christopher letting you know that he was following and he knows where you are now, just the thought of that text made you want to vomit, but you held it in, because you had to be strong, because Dan had told you that being around everyone else was safer, and you had to believe him. Didn't you? It did seem sort of truthful in the slightest, more people would mean more protection, but also it would mean more people getting hurt if they couldn't protect you, and you wouldn't be able to bare the guilt of anybody got hurt because of you.   
You let your mind fill with these thoughts that you tried to keep at bay, and the more you thought about it the more you just wanted to throw up and cry and just run away from it all, leave everyone behind just to make sure they were safe.   
Dan had been talking the whole time, you missed every single word that he had said, but when you looked up and saw where you were at you thought that it must have been reasons why you were there. He didn't look agitated that you weren't listening to him, it's just that every time you would zone out or act weirdly, the shadow of worry on his face would get darker, and his eyes were slowly losing the joyful light that they seemed to always hold.   
"We're at my apartment complex... Why?" It had seemed like a week or maybe a month ago that you had visited it last, but it had only been just yesterday. It had been so fucking crazy that you perception of time was complete shit.   
"To get some of your things, I was thinking, you'll need some clothes and maybe I can help you bring your computer tower and you can hook it up at the grump office and do your work there. Nobody would mind, you need to get back to work." The thought of getting back to work sort of lightened your mood. It would be something normal, something to keep your mind off of everything. You could stick to doing your reviews and your vlogs until everything is right again.   
"You think maybe we'll need two cars for that?" You looked around his car and it seemed sort of small, but you were also going to use his idea as a reason to hopefully be able to drive your own car.   
"Ehh, no, I've got a lot of trunk space, we can wrap your tower up in a blanket or something to keep it safe back there, and your clothes should fit fine in the backseat." You sucked in your lips, your idea was shot down. He knew what you were trying to do, and he smirked. "You probably think I'm being controlling or over protective or whatever..." You nodded to everything he said and he sighed. "I'm just really worried about you, okay. Once all of this is over you can drive and go wherever you want, I promise I won't be up your ass, I'll even leave you alone, but for now, can you deal with it?" And you couldn't even be mad at him, how could you even attempt to be mad at him for caring? All he wants is for you to be safe, and you're looking for ways to do things on your own. You knew already how worried he gets when it comes to you, and you were willing to put more on him just because you want to be independent.   
"I'm sorry, I don't mind it, really I don't... I don't want you to leave me, I'm just... I'm being bitchy, I'm sorry." Dan reached his arm across and wrapped it around your shoulder.   
"It's fine, I just don't want you to think I'm being crazy. Let's go get your things, okay?" You forced yourself to smile, hoping it looked real. You didn't know if Dan could see through it, but he smiled back anyway.

Before you could even get up to your room, the lady behind the desk in the lobby had to call down to the security officers since they had your keys.   
Officer Brackett had brought your keys to you and had asked how you were doing in which you replied that you were doing well. Dan shook his head at your nonchalance attitude and continued to further explain that the person who had broken into your apartment had now found you and was tracking you and had tried to get into your hotel room. Officer Brackett had then tried to reassure you that everything will be fine, as he did yesterday, except now he can try to match the fingerprints they found in your apartment to the ones that could be on the cellphone.   
When you got up to your apartment it was the same way it had been, every time you seen it you felt like it was just another slap in the face. Some of your things were guarded by yellow "do not pass" tape, as if someone will come into your apartment and try to pass the tape. You looked around, some of your things were gone, probably to be tested for fingerprints or hair follicles, not that you really cared, you just wanted to get your things and get out.   
Dan grabbed one of the throw blankets you had draped over your couch and wrapped your computer tower in it while you went into your bedroom to get your clothes.   
As you threw your clothes into your luggage you really thought about what you were going to do. The thoughts that flooded your mind whenever you set foot near your apartment were just too much, you didn't even know if you'd be able to come back, or even want to at this point. It would just be a constant reminder of Christopher, even if he was to be caught.   
You heard Dan clear his throat in the doorway, you looked up and saw that he was cradling your computer tower carefully in both hands, but watching you closely to see if you were okay.   
"I'm done now, we can go." You said it quickly, just wanting to leave. This place which had once been a type of sanctuary for you was now just a tiny part of your current nightmare. You got up off the floor, pulling your luggage behind you. It had everything you needed, your clothes, makeup, hair supplies and accessories, things that Christopher had either forgotten to destroy or just hadn't had the time to destroy.   
"I already told Barry you were staying at the apartment." He watched closely to see how you responded, but you didn't really know how to. What were you supposed to say? You didn't want to have to stay in an apartment with your current boyfriend and your recent ex, but what could you do? You obviously didn't want to argue with Dan about it.   
"What did he say?" You hoped that Barry wasn't mad about it, that's not what you wanted.   
"He said that its cool, he'll stay with Melody until this all blows over." You nodded slowly, letting your mind work out what Dan said. Of course Barry would stay with Melody, this is a perfect reason for him to actually spend time with her and be alone with her... Not that he hadn't already. You didn't know why you were getting so agitated by this, you were happy with Dan honestly, beyond happy. But it was still like pouring salt into an open wound when Melody was brought up.   
"Can we go now?" Dan bit his lip, obviously wanting to say something, but not wanting to ask you about it. He knew what you were thinking about, and you saw that it bothered him. He was able to read your face like an open book, and sometimes you wished that he couldn't.   
Dan walked out of the door first, acting the same way he had when you were leaving the hotel, except this time he couldn't hold your hand because he was too busy holding the tower, so instead he kept looking over to you to make sure you were still there.   
When you made it down to the lobby you handed over your apartment keys to the receptionist and told her to give them to security. She didn't look pleased that you were giving her orders. She groaned and said okay in a bitch like way, it irked you, but it didn't matter, you just wanted to get out of there.

When you got to Dan and Barry's apartment you felt a lot better. There was a serene feeling, although it wasn't clean, the mess made it feel more like a home.   
Dan placed your computer tower on the floor next to a computer desk and gestured for you to follow him. You assumed he was taking you to the bedroom so you grabbed the handle to your luggage and started following him.   
The first room he showed you was the bathroom, it was a decent sized one, maybe a little bigger than yours, but not by much.   
The next room was, well, not really a room, but a door. It was the door to Barry's room, which was off limits, not like you wanted to go in there anyway.   
He finally took you to his room and you set your luggage next to the door and looked around. He had framed pictures of Rush albums and movie stills from The Last Unicorn. He observed your face as you took in your surroundings, it was a quaint little room, you could deal with it for a little while.   
Although the thought of living with Dan was exciting, you weren't one who enjoyed being controlled, and rules came along with staying in another persons house. You liked to live by your own rules, which were pretty much that you had no rules. You went to bed whenever you wanted and ate whenever you needed. There was no schedule at your place, you did what you needed to do when you wanted to do it.   
"So I guess just... Get comfortable, would you like something to eat...drink? I have, at the moment, skittles and Pepsi." You loved how casual he said it, like those were his main meals, like it was normal. You needed some normalcy, but skittles and Pepsi would give you a sugar rush, so you shook your head and politely said no. "Alright, you need some help unpacking? I have room in my dresser." You stifled a giggle, he made it seem like you were going to be living there forever.   
"Dan, I'm not moving in. Plus, I wouldn't want to overcrowd your dresser with my panties." You shot him a jokingly seductive look and playfully winked at him.   
"Mm, I wouldn't mind that." He bit his lip and wiggled his eyebrows. It was weird, no matter what he did, even if he was joking or not even trying, he still was just as sexy as ever.   
You got up off the floor and walked over to him, putting your fingers through his belt loops and pulling him with you over to the bed. He moaned with satisfaction, having his own ideas about where this was going.   
"What do you want baby?" He whispered into your ear in between kisses that trailed up and down your neck.   
"You." You bit your lip, wondering if it was even fair for you to be messing with him this much. It probably wasn't, but it wasn't like you weren't going to be there for a while, so he might get what he wants at some point. It's not like you didn't want to, it's just that you didn't want to right then.   
"Mmm..." The shaky release of his moan was a turn on, you fought back the urge to tear at his clothes, knowing that if you gave in this soon that it would seem really bad on you. "What do you want me to do?" His arms wobbled as he held himself up above you.   
"I want..." You paused, watching his pupils dilate as he stared at you. "I want... A glass of water please." You have him a sheepish smile, his mouth was wide open with shock, a flash of disappointment crossed his eyes. He pushed himself up off the bed and ruffled his hair.   
"Ugh, that was rude. I'm gonna have like, blue balls for the rest of the day." You leaned up on your elbows and held back a laugh as he adjusted himself in his pants.   
"I'm sorry." He rolled his eyes and walked out of the room to get you your water. When he came back he handed it over to you and watched as you dipped at it. He looked really upset and you felt horrible for messing with him like that, so you set the water down on the floor next to the bed and grabbed his hands. "Come here." He shook his head and took a step back, pulling you off the bed.   
"No, you come here." He placed his hand on the small of your back and his other hand on the back of your neck. "Now what do you want." His eyes were fierce and you tried to form an answer.   
"I don't... I-I..." You stuttered and couldn't find an answer. He pulled you closer against him, his forehead pressed against yours. A shadow cast over his eyes as he looked down into yours, his jaw was clenched tight, his mouth set in a perfect line. You blinked a few times, trying to gain back some sort of common thought to give him an answer, but you didn't know what he wanted you to say. "I want y-" He didn't give you time to finish, pressing his lips hard against yours, his hold on the back of your neck becoming tighter. You held tightly onto his shirt, pulling him closer and becoming agitated when he was as close as he could get.   
He slipped his tongue into your mouth and started walking, you couldn't even process how to move your feet so you shuffled across the floor as Dan guided you to where he wanted to go.   
You nibbled at his lip gently enticing a small moan out of him. He laid you gently down onto the bed, this was the only time the kiss broke. As soon as you were situated on the bed he situated himself so he was hovering just above you, his chest lightly brushing yours with every kiss.   
You turned away for a second, his lips now moving along your jaw. You could see out his window that over looked the parking lot, his blinds were up and his window was cracked to let the small breeze in.   
As you were looking out the window your eyes focused in on someone or something dressed in all black. They were holding something in their hands and it was pointed straight up at the window.   
"Dan..." You whispered his name, and he must have taken it as you wanting something more physical, so he slid his hand up your shirt and cupped at your breasts. "Dammit Dan, someone is outside looking through the window!" You sat up and Dan got up slowly off the bed to look out the window. The person had finally realized that he was seen and got into his car and sped off.   
"Shit, where's your phone?" You pointed out into the main room and you and Dan both went to get it.   
You paced the floor while Dan sat on the edge of the couch waiting for you to read the text. You cleared your throat, but not even that could keep your voice from cracking as you read the text to him.

**Reddit is really going to love this one. You should probably close your windows before you do stuff like that. Didn't you and that guy just get together? And yeah, I know it's not my business, but it's really slutty of you to be doing that kind of stuff as soon as you start dating. But then again, that's just you.**

You clenched your fist around your phone, wanting to throw it at the wall, or punch something. Dan had started going around the apartment, making sure all the windows and the door was locked and the blinds were shut. All feelings of safety had vanished, and you thought it strange that you had even felt safe in the first place. Christopher had been able to follow you everywhere else, why wouldn't he follow you here. Maybe it's because you were now in Dans home and not just a crappy motel. But you realized that you weren't even safe here, and that just made it far harder for you. 


	11. Chapter 11

Dan waited for you to speak, or move, or do anything, but you were frozen. You didn't even know if you were blinking, it didn't feel like you were. You were sitting at Dans dining room table, hands folded across your lap staring blankly at the white walls.   
He had been sitting across from you for the last twenty minutes, but when you still didn't say anything he got up and pulled your chair out, turning it at an angle so he could squat down in front of you.   
"Stop worrying, everything is going to be fine." He moved his hand up to brush your cheek and you moved away from his touch. He pulled his hand back dejectedly.   
"How can you continue to say that when every time he comes around he does something worse? Nothing is going to be fine until the cops catch him Dan." You pulled your knees up against your chest and hid your face in them, trying to gain some kind of composure.   
"Because we have each other, and I promised you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Fuck what he posts on Reddit, what's the worst that could happen?" You shrugged, you didn't know exactly what would happen, but you knew what people were capable of. You've seen the kind of things they say about Suzy, and she's been around way longer than you have, and people still hated her. You could only imagine what they'd say about you.   
He pulled you up from the chair and held your hand as he walked you to the bedroom. When he started pulling back the blankets you raised your eyebrow, confused. Did he expect you to take a nap right now? You were nervous and paranoid and he thought you should sleep on it, like that would make you feel any better.   
"I'm going to lay with you, you just really need to calm down and take it easy." You closed your eyes, rolling them behind your eyelids so that he wouldn't see it. You flopped down on the bed and slid your legs under the blankets, pulling them up to your chin. He got in bed next to you, and even though you weren't looking at him, you could feel him looking at you, watching over you like some sort of guard dog.   
He started singing the theme to The Last Unicorn, and the only reason you knew the song was because he made you watch it on several occasions when you were dating in New Jersey.   
"You should do a cover of the song." He sang beautifully, and he sounded even more lovely when he wasn't singing about dicks or sex.   
"Hmm, maybe, I'll think about it. Go to sleep now darling, I'll stay right here until you wake up." You sighed, trying to let yourself doze off, it was harder than you thought it would be, but your eyes slowly fluttered shut, the last thing you remember hearing was Dans singing.

"What do you mean they're talking about her? What are they saying Arin?" You were startled awake by the sound of Dan yelling. You didn't know what he was talking about, well, screaming about actually, but he was screaming at Arin which was very unusual. "Can you get somebody to take it down? A moderator or something...? I don't want her to see any of it... No I don't want to read it first, just get it off of there... Thank you, yeah... Okay bye." You realized that they were talking about you, and they weren't the only ones. You grabbed your phone and quickly typed in the URL to the Game Grumps subreddit, hoping that Dan wouldn't come in before you got to read some of the things.   
The video that Christopher had posted was the hottest post for today, you saw how many comments there were and hesitantly clicked the link and swiped down to the comments.

_What a whore, wasn't she like, just with Barry?_

_I'm surprised someone like Dan would willingly date someone like her... Maybe he's just doing it for the sex._

_She must really be trying to get YouTube famous or something, I'm definitely unsubscribing though._

_She's going to end up ruining the Game Grumps. Hopefully they just get rid of her before it happens._

You turned off your phone, not wanting to read anymore. Christopher wasn't only ruining your personal life now, but he was destroying your livelihood.   
You heard Dan walking toward the room so you slipped your phone under the pillow and laid back down, pretending to be asleep. He got back into the bed with you and wrapped his arm around your waist.   
"I swear to God as soon as I find that piece of shit I'm gonna kill him, for everything he's done to you." He whispered, not talking directly to you, he still thought you were sleeping. He was now just saying his thoughts out loud.   
Your phone got a notification, you felt it vibrate under the pillow and Dan reached under it to get your phone. You didn't want him to know you were awake, so you let him read the text. Next thing you heard was the sound of the keyboard typing quickly and the "vwoop" of a sent text message. You fought back the urge to quickly read the message, you'd get the chance soon enough, but he'd most likely ask questions about how long you've been up and what you've been doing and if you've heard anything.   
He slid your phone back under the pillow and got up off the bed. You used this as a chance to "wake up" so that Dan would think that it was his movement that had woken you and not his conversation in the main room.   
"Where are you going?" You did a fake groggy voice to really try and pull off your act. He stopped in the doorway and turned to smile to you, you saw a look in his eyes that you just couldn't explain, the only two things you could think of that would be causing that look would be that he had either read the comments on Reddit, or the text was bad.   
You hoped that it was just the comments, they could be easily fixed. That whole situation could be gone like the wind if Dan got all the Grumps to vouch for you, and you hoped that they would.   
"I'm gonna go get some skittles, you want some? I've got a bunch in the cabinet, just let me know." You shook your head, you just wanted to read what Dan had texted.   
"May I take a shower?" That would be a perfect way for you to be alone and be able to read the text, also you'd be able to shower which sounded great after not being able to all day yesterday.   
"Of course, I'll get it started and grab you some towels and a rag." He left the room and you got out of bed to get a new pair of clothes from your suitcase. When Dan walked back in he placed the towels on the edge of the bed and walked straight to the bathroom. You heard the water start and then the sound of water through pipes as he switched it to the shower.   
You had your clothes and the towels in your hand and you were waiting outside of the bathroom for Dan to come out. Your phone was slipped between the towels and your clothes, and you hoped that you wouldn't get a notification in the next five seconds because you forgot to turn off your ringer.   
"Just call me if you need anything." He kissed the top of your head as he walked by and watched as you walked into the bathroom.   
As soon as the door was shut you put the towels and your clothes on the counter and checked to see what Dan had written.

**Seems like all is going according to plan. All you had to do was let me in so we could talk, now you see the consequences for your foolish actions. You should probably start looking for a new job now, because it seems to me like nobody is going to be watching you anymore. Word spreads fast sweetheart, and you've already lost about a thousand subscribers.**

You realized that you'd have to do something and you'd have to do it fast, but you didn't know what to do. You couldn't respond on Reddit by yourself, nobody would listen to you. You'd have to have Dan help you, and hopefully Barry would help too, just to show everyone that they're wrong. You moved on to read Dans response.

**Look you asshole, you're going to leave ____ alone. If I ever fucking see you, I'm going to beat the living shit out of you. Just leave her alone.**

You had thought that he wrote more, but he must have just been erasing and rewriting a lot of times. Christopher hadn't responded, but you knew that he would at some point. You were sort of pissed at Dan for threatening Christopher, now Dan could really get hurt, Christopher would be out to get him, you were worried. You had told Dan how worried you were and you had hoped that he wouldn't get involved in a personal level to keep your mind at ease, but he did what he wanted.   
You slipped you phone back underneath your pile of towels and clothes and stripped yourself of the sweatpants and hoodie you've been wearing for the past day and a half. As you stepped into the shower you realized how tense you had become due to all the stress. Your muscles relaxed and you rolled your neck under the stream of water. You let the water run over every inch of your body before beginning to even wash.   
The bathroom door opened, you felt the quick, cold breeze slip under the shower curtain and sort of brush against your body.   
"Dan, is that you?" To other people, ordinary people who didn't have a manic stalker on their trails, it would seem kind of silly to ask who it was, especially when it was only the two of you in the apartment. But then again, it was probably silly to ask since Christopher probably wouldn't just come out and say that it was him.   
"Yeah it's me, just... Checking up on you." He probably didn't realize that you could see his shadow through the curtain, you could see that he was checking through your clothes, probably looking for your phone.   
At that moment, you heard your phone 'ding'. Dan quickly pulled it out from under the pile of clothes.   
"Dan! What are you doing?!" You pulled the shower curtain back enough to peer out. He fumbled and kept his hands behind his back as he turned around to look at you.   
"Uhm, I-I was looking for my..." He was thinking, and you shook your head.   
"You're looking for my phone, and I know why, and I'm actually kind of pissed that you even got yourself personally involved in this. What were you thinking?" He put your phone down on the counter, his eyes were wide.   
"You're getting mad at me for defending you? I'm not just going to sit back and let him ruin your life." You pulled the curtain shut and began washing your hair, not wanting to waste time arguing with him, he just didn't understand. "Look, you can either sit around and let him continue to bring you down, or you can fight back."   
"How the fuck am I supposed to fight back Dan!?" You pulled the curtain back again, this time exposing your full body, you were completely oblivious to the fact that he was now staring at you, well, your body. "He's a god damn psychopath and, and I'm scared okay."   
Dan blinked a few times, trying to focus his attention back up to your face.   
"I-I know, I'm sorry... I know you're scared..." He ran his hand through his hair, it was shaking and you saw his eyes moving quickly from your face, down your body and back up. You quickly shut the curtain and he sighed. "I wasn't trying to worry you by texting back, honestly. I just want him to leave you alone." You turned off the shower and held your hand out. Dan handed you your towels and you wrapped one around your body and then one on your head. You stepped out of the shower and walked over to him, straight to his chest and leaned against him, his arms wrapped around you tightly.   
"I want him to leave me alone too, I just don't know how... I'm beginning to feel like the cops are never going to be able to get him... And it's not like we know what he looks like, so we can't ask anyone to call the police if they see him. He could be anywhere."   
"Hey, you need to have hope. Nothing is going to get better if you have that attitude. I have an episode to film tomorrow, so we can take your computer tower over there and you can film there. Then we can do a video, all of us grumps and you, and show everyone that they're wrong. How about that?" As much as you didn't really feel like explaining your personal life to the Game Grumps fans, what else could you do? A quarter of the fans were your subscribers and they were talking about unsubscribing and not watching your videos. Christopher had really messed things up for you, and this was probably the only way to fix it.   
"Alright..." You said hesitantly, pulling away from Dan and grabbing your clothes off the counter.   
"You want to watch a movie tonight? I know the asshole destroyed your collection, but there's a site that has all the movies for free." His voice raised in pitch when he said free, his eyebrows wiggled, trying to lighten the mood. It got a light chuckle out of you, and a nod. A movie would be nice, try to get your mind off of your own personal stalker psychopath by watching a movie about another persons murderous stalking psychopath. "Alright, we can go to the store and get some real food and just snack it out tonight, binge watch your favorite movies. It's all about you tonight." He kissed your forehead and walked out of the bathroom so you could get dressed in private. You smiled at the thought of snacks and movies, it was what you and Dan would mostly do back in Jersey. You'd set up the movie in your room and he'd come over with three or four bags of chips and candy and soda and you'd both pig out while watching horror movies. It would always make you laugh how he needed to be cuddled or hide under a blanket when something scary would happen.   
You walked out of the bathroom wearing black yoga pants and a white t-shirt. You slipped a hoodie on and Dam looked you over, like a judge in a fashion show. You were beginning to feel self conscious until he began slow clapping. Your cheeks turned bright red and he smiled wide.   
"I'd give that outfit a ten outta ten, it makes your booty look great." Your face felt red hot and you closed your eyes while covering your face. He walked over to you, placing his hands firmly on your butt, giving it a quick squeeze making you jump. "How is it that you make anything look sexy? You could come out of there wearing footy pajamas and I'd still think you were the hottest girl on the planet." You giggled at the thought of footy pajamas, you had always wanted an adult pair and now you could get some without thinking he'd laugh about it. He probably still would, but at least he'd still think you're beautiful.   
"Can we go to the store now? I'm starving." You wanted to change the subject though, wanted the red to fade from your cheeks by the time you got to the store, and if you stayed here any longer he'd just continue with compliments and your cheeks would be brighter than a neon 'open' sign.   
"Of course, let me just get my keys." While he was grabbing his keys you slipped on your shoes and contemplated whether your should bring your phone or not. Christopher was stalking you through the GPS in your phone, but he also could be outside waiting for you and Dan to leave, or maybe just Dan to leave and you to be alone. You really didn't have an option, but at least if there was a chance that he wasn't sitting outside waiting for you, that you could just leave your phone at the apartment and he'd just think you're still there.   
You decided to try to turn off your phone and leave it under the pillow, something that you had never tried before, thinking and hoping that maybe it wouldn't show up on his tracker.   
When you left the bedroom, Dan was standing next to the door, twirling his keys around on his finger, his eyes affixed to the bedroom door waiting for you to come out.   
"You ready hot stuff?" He asked, attempting a wink, making your face heat up once again.   
"As ready as you are... Hotter... Uhm stuff." You tried to be flirtatious back, failing horribly and he laughed. He wrapped his arm around your waist and opened the door, keeping his arm around you when you both walked out together and while he locked the door.   
He did the same thing as when he was walking through the hallway of the hotel, always on high alert, making sure nobody suspicious was around.   
When you finally made it out to the parking lot and into the car you felt like you were being watched. You looked around and saw nobody, but noticed that there was a strange black car parked across from Dans, it was idle, but you saw the exhaust coming from the back. You tried not to worry about it, but you kept a close eye on it until Dan finally pulled out of the parking spot. Dan held your hand while keeping his eyes on the road and you kept your eyes on the side mirror. Your attempt at not worrying failed as you saw the black car that was sitting idle in the parking lot now two cars behind you.   
"C-can you take the back roads?" You asked Dan, still watching the car through the mirror. You didn't know for sure if it was following you, and you didn't want to jump to conclusions yet.   
"What's wrong? I mean, the stores like right up the street." He released your hand to move his up to your cheek, lightly brushing his fingers across it. You cleared your throat , fumbling for an excuse, one that wouldn't cause him to panic.   
"The traffic is really bad, I mean... The back roads should be clearer." You sucked in your bottom lip, looking ahead through the windshield at the practically empty streets. He bit his cheek, suspicious, but not up to asking questions. He switched on his blinker and moved over to the right lane to go the back way. Dan grabbed your hand again and you turned your gaze back to the side mirror.   
As Dan turned down the back road you watched the black car pass on the main road. You tried to catch a glimpse through the windows, but they were tinted. It made you feel a lot better that it didn't follow you down the back roads, made you a little less on edge, but not much less. Christopher was still somewhere around, still roaming free, still trying to get to you in any way. 


	12. Chapter 12

Dan pulled into the parking lot of the store and you looked around to see if the black car is there. You breathed a sigh of relief when you seen that it wasn't and Dan smiled over at you, he probably assumed that you were relieved that you'd get real food and not skittles.   
You both got out of the car together and Dan quickly strode over to your side, wrapping his arm protectively around your waste once more. You didn't know how long this would go on, but now you were becoming accustomed to it, the tightness of his arm, the flexing of his arm as he would randomly pull you just a little bit closer.   
When you got in the store you both made a straight B-line to the snack isle.   
"Shit, I forgot a basket, stay here alright. Don't move an inch." Dan said, he looked around making sure that you weren't in any immediate danger. There was a middle aged couple in the isle, they had a child in their cart, maybe 3 or 4. You smiled when you thought about your future, hoping that you'd soon have a little family of your own. Your thought came to a quick halt though when you thought about your present and just how fucked up it was. You tried to keep your mind off of it by looking at the chips and cookies in the isle. Your stomach grumbled and you laughed to yourself getting you a weird look from the couple behind you. You pursed your lips and went back to looking at the snacks.   
You heard the couple walk away, the squeaking of the cart wheels getting further and further away. Looking around you saw that you were alone in the isle now, it made your heart jump. You feared being alone now, but Dan had told you not to move, and it would be a bigger risk to get lost in the store trying to find him, so you tried to stay calm and went back to looking at the snacks until you felt a light tap on your shoulder.   
"Hey sweetheart." The warmth of breath went down your neck and you quickly turned around, praying it would be Dan, but knowing already that it wasn't his voice, his whisper that you heard.   
Christopher was standing behind you, too close for comfort, but him being anywhere near you was too close anyway. His hair was black now and slicked back, his eyes ice blue, but his pupils were wide and eerily creepy. A wide smile that resembled that of a picture from a Creepypasta you had read before, it scared you, and you had the feeling he knew that as his smile got somehow wider.   
"Finally alone and in person. Didn't think he'd be foolish enough to leave you alone in a grocery store, but thankfully your boyfriend is a dipshit." He chuckled to himself and you took a shaky breath before responding.   
"Don't talk about him like that. He'll be back soon." His smile faded and he shook his head.   
"Don't talk back to me. I'll say what I want about who I want. Now listen, I don't have a lot of time, your tree branch will be back in a couple of minutes. Tomorrow, you're going to meet me outside of his apartment, and you're going to get in my car and we're going to go somewhere nice and quiet and then we're going to go back to Jersey. You'll say nothing, and you won't warn anyone. If you do, your little friends and your boyfriend will get hurt, and you don't want that, do you?" You shook your head, swallowing back the bile that was building in your throat. He patted your head, quick hard pats, you were weak and you didn't know what to do. He turned to leave and then stopped in his tracks and turned to look over his shoulder. "See you tomorrow sweetness." And he turned to leave.   
Your mouth was hanging wide open, you didn't know what to do. You didn't want to risk Dan and everyone else's lives by telling him or the police.   
When Dan came back to the isle you still hadn't composed yourself. You were still staring at the place where Christopher had been standing, your mouth still hanging open.   
"Are you trying to catch flies or something?" He laughed at his own joke, but you were still in too much shock to even respond to humor. "____?" It didn't take him long to realize that there was really something wrong, and he began looking around, trying to find the source behind your look of utter shock and surprise. "What happened?" He put his hands on your shoulders and tried to shake you, it was like you were hypnotized with no instruction given, just standing there like a fool, like a deer caught in headlights.   
"I uh... I Uhm... A mouse, I saw a mouse..." You had thought by now that lying would come easier to you, yet it was the exact opposite. It became harder for you to lie, you couldn't even think of excuses now, you fumbled and stuttered them out.   
"A mouse? ____ I know you, you had like ten hamsters back in Jersey, you love mice. That's not what made you like this." You tried to look away, think of another reason, but he grabbed your chin and turned you back to look at him. "Please ____, tell me so I can help you."   
"I don't want you to get hurt..." Dan sighed in defeat, knowing that as soon as you said that the conversation was over. He let go of your chin, hands dropping by his side.   
"Alright, just pick some snacks that you want." He didn't sound happy anymore, not the cheerful Dan that he was when he had left the isle.   
You tried to cheer him up by playing basketball with the bag of chips and throwing them into the basket that he was holding. You thought this would make him smile, but not even a slight pull at the corners of his mouth was present. You shrugged and let out a deep sigh, picking up a couple more little snacks and dropping them into the basket and you both walked silently to the cash registers.   
You paced yourself with him which was hard, each of his steps equaled out to two or three of yours. You didn't know why he was so angry, or seemed so angry at least. Your anxiety was kicking in, and you got into the front seat as he was putting the groceries into the trunk.   
Your legs were shaking and you wished that you had a cigarette to calm yourself. You were breathing heavy and you couldn't seem to control it. You pulled your knees up to your chest and tucked your face in them and you felt the shaking of the car as Dan climbed into the drivers side. He didn't even ask if you were okay, the car rumbled to a start and you felt it start to back up and pull away. Was he really so agitated that you wouldn't tell him what was going on? It was for his own sake and everyone else's that you both cared about. You now feared that there were other people involved in Christopher's crazy plan, people that were as crazy as him and willing to pay the price and suffer the consequences. But what for?   
You lifted your face from your knees, casting a quick glance over to Dan. His hands were tense around the wheel, his jaw looking insanely prominent as he scowled through the windshield.   
"You can't help me..." You mumbled, part of you hoping he heard and the other part of you hoping he didn't.   
"Because you never give me the chance to." His voice was stern when he answered, his face rigid with a mixture of both anger and pain. His gaze was still fixated through the window.   
"Because I don't want you or anybody to get hurt, we've been through this so many times already." You didn't dare to look at him, you tried to focus on the people who were walking down the street just so you wouldn't have to see him angry.   
"Can you for once stop fucking worrying about me and everyone else? I mean, it's great and all, really it is. But Jesus Christ, you won't even accept help. I'm practically fucking begging you and you still won't let me." The sound of his hands slamming down on the wheel caused you to flinch, he must have noticed. He sighed, it sounded exhausted. "I'm sorry, I just, I care about you and I don't know what to do to help. You won't let me."   
"He told me that if I say anything he'll have you and everyone else killed." You audibly shut your mouth, fearing that you had said to much already. His eyebrows lowered leaving a dent in the center of the two as he thought for a minute.   
"When did he text you that? Did you delete it or something?" You could agree with that, go along with what he thought happened. But then you'd have to quickly think of a false excuse as to why you'd delete the text, so you decided that you'd stop lying, you were no good at it anyway. Plus, that's what Dan wanted. The truth, no matter what, because Dan was more worried about you than himself. You both seemed to have that problem.   
"He found me at the grocery store, I was in shock, I couldn't think. Nobody else was in the isle and I just froze, I panicked. I don't know how he found me." You sighed, letting your head fall back against the head rest of the seat.   
Dan had just pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, he let the car idle in a spot before turning the keys and pulling them out.   
"What did he say to you?" He sounded pissed, but you could tell that he wasn't pissed at you now. He was most likely pissed at himself, pissed for giving Christopher the opportunity to be alone with you for even a second.   
"He said that he wants me to meet him outside tomorrow, I guess while you're recording... He said he's going to take me somewhere nice and quiet to talk and then he's going to take me back to Jersey. He told me not to tell anybody or he'll hurt you." Dans fingers tapped against the steering wheel, you could see how tense he was and the tapping became quicker and quicker.   
"I have an idea... Let's get inside real quick. Come on." You both got out of the car, quickly got the groceries and high tailed it up to his room. He closed the door quietly and locked it while you checked all the windows to make sure they were still shut and locked.   
"Alright, what's the plan?" You whispered. You were both now sitting on the couch, you were huddled close to him, both wrapped in a blanket. You stayed quiet, scared that Christopher would be listening somehow.   
If this ever ended you'd probably always be paranoid and on edge, always fearful that he has some sort of backup person to continue on with his plan if he ever gets caught. That's what really sucked about this whole thing, you'll never know if it's really over.   
"You're gonna go with him..." You heard the large intake of breath as he waited for your response. You didn't have one though, your mouth hung open as you looked up at him. You were even more in shock about this so called plan of his than seeing Christopher at the store. "Look, I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. I'm gonna get in touch with the officers, the police department, the fucking swat teams. They're going to follow you guys and see where you go, and I'm going to have them at the Grump office too just in case." You shook your head, you didn't think it would work. Nothing is that simple.   
"Dan, how do you know this is going to work? There's not enough time to set up a damn stakeout. This isn't some movie." Dan threw his hands up in the air and let them drop loudly on the couch.   
"Dammit ____, can you just trust me? I'm not going to let anything happen to you, you know that. I'm going to get in touch with the sherif. You just sit tight, everything will be fine." You rolled your eyes, he reminded you of Doctor Loomis in Halloween, always getting in touch with the sherif, at least in the movie he knew that something bad would happen no matter what.   
You leaned against the back of the couch, your mind wandering to places you didn't want it to go to, but you couldn't seem to stop it. You tried to focus on the sound of Dans voice, but he was talking about his 'plan' which only made your mind wander back to the place again.   
You wanted to check your phone, but feared that if you did you'd just see more texts from Christopher. He was everywhere, even if he wasn't physically here. Like a ghost that you just couldn't get rid of, a poltergeist reeking havoc on your life and nothing would stop him.   
When Dan sat back down you leaned back against his shoulder. The sound of his voice as he talked on the phone had become background noise and you hadn't payed attention to it while the call was in progress. You asked him if they'd help and the way he smiled gave you a sliver of hope.   
"The sherif told me that when I'm about to leave that I'm going to call the station and they'll send out some sort of undercover officers and they'll follow you guys. You have nothing to worry about." Although that made you feel a tiny bit better, you still had your doubts. But you didn't voice your concerns to Dan, instead you asked about the cops watching him and the rest of the Grumps. "They said they'll have some officers basically guarding us. When they catch him and you're safe they'll give me a call to let me know. See, I told you everything will be fine." He gave your shoulder a little squeeze before resting his arm around it. He was so lighthearted, so positive, so absolutely sure that his plan would work out, you didn't even have the heart the tell him that there's a 50% chance that it might not.   
So you forced a smile onto your lips, nodding your head and leaning on his shoulder. You wanted to be as close to him as possible, it might be the last time you're able to be this close to him, or with him at all for that matter. The thought alone almost made you break down into tears, you forced them back, trying to stay strong and composed for Danny's sake.   
"Let's get these snacks open and a movie going, yeah?" You said quietly, hoping that Dan wouldn't hear the pain in your voice. You wanted to enjoy your last few hours with Dan normally, not worrying about Christopher or how tomorrow would turn out.

  
The last thing you remembered was Doctor Loomis and Laurie running through the hospital as Michael stalked after them. Empty bottles of water, candy wrappers and chip bags littered the floor around you. You couldn't remember falling asleep, or how you got to be in the position you were in now. Your head was on Dans lap and you were curled up in the fetal position under the blanket that you both had been sharing earlier. Dan was sitting up, but his head was leaned back so it could rest on the back of the couch.   
It was dark, and you reached out to find the laptop so you could check the time. When it came on the light blinded you, you held your arm up in front of your face, shielding your eyes from the sun like light that came from the screen. Squinting, you forced your eyes to adjust to the light so you could read the time at the bottom of the screen. It was only one in the morning, you sighed with relief, you'd have a little more time to sleep before morning, a little more time to cuddle up next to Dan.   
The thoughts flooded back into your mind, like a dam breaking open, you couldn't stop the flow, it was too strong. You tried to close your eyes and force them away, but nothing worked. You'd dread having to wake up in the morning, you wished that you didn't have to, that you could just sleep in with Dan by your side until the afternoon.  
Once tomorrow came, that was it. The outcome was 50/50. Everything could fall through and you'd never see Dan or your friends ever again, or everything could work out just as Dan said and Christopher would be gone. It seemed to you though that the last thing would just be too easy, and nothing is ever that easy. Something was bound to go wrong, it always does.


	13. Chapter 13

You get woken up by Dans legs shifting underneath your head. He must've just woken up, his eyes still sort of glossed over with the remnants of sleep that he quickly wiped away. He was now alert, ready for the day ahead, at least somebody was.   
Slowly getting up, you stretched, letting out a yawn. Dan rubbed your back and you leaned back onto his chest. He stared down at you, you watched his eyes as they scanned over your face. It seemed to you like he was taking a mental image, trying to burn a picture of your face into his mind so that he'd always remember you just in case his plan didn't go the way he wanted.   
Or maybe your mind was just running rapid with these crazy thoughts because your were worried. In a short amount of time you had thought of every worst case scenario, everything that could possibly go wrong. You were so pessimistic, so doubtful, you drive yourself crazy. You wished that you could have just a tiny ounce of faith in this plan, a tiny bit of hope, but you learned long ago that it was useless to be hopeful in situations such as this. Life was a bitch and it was never on your side. It seemed like life was against you, everything that could go wrong did, and everything that seemed to go even the least bit right was completely ruined.   
Being with Dan was too good to be true, it was what you had always wanted, he made you happy, but you could never be happy for too long.   
"How are you feeling?" Dan asked you, pulling your hair back, away from your face. You didn't really know how you were feeling, you bit the inside of your cheek and shrugged. "You want something to eat?" You shook your head, you were too worried to eat. Your stomach felt like it was doing backflips, your heart was beating insanely fast and your throat felt like it was closing up. You burrowed your face into his chest, a single tear dissolved into his shirt. You stared at the little dark circle where your tear had landed as Dan traced circles on your back. "We should get dressed, we have a long day..." You heard the shakiness of his voice, he was just as worried as you were. He was starting to doubt that his plan would actually work. This is what sent your mind back to the thoughts that you were having that night, only now they were more justified, because if Dan was worried, than you definitely should be worried.   
You got up off the couch, your legs were shaking, you were dizzy and off balance. The room was spinning, you were nauseous and you felt like you could just pass out. Your feet dragged as you walked into the bedroom to change, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt from you suitcase. Dan stood in the doorway while you changed, and when you were done he walked in and sat on the bed.   
"Are you going to get dressed?" You asked while you threw your hair up in a messy ponytail.   
"Soon, I just want to sit here for a second." He was staring down at his hands and you sat down next to him and placed your hands on top of his. He looked up from his hands and over to you, his eyes were red and he had obviously been crying. "I'm trying to believe that the plan will work, I'm just worried. And I don't want you to be worried, I don't want you to think there's anything to be worried about, I just don't want anything to happen to you." You squeezed his hand and swallowed back the lump in your throat. Dan had been so strong and so kept together the last few days, but it had finally hit him. Christopher had finally gotten to you, and everything that Dan had been trying to keep from happening was happening, it had broken him. He couldn't be strong for you anymore, he couldn't even be strong for himself, because Dans biggest fear was finally coming true. There was a chance that he might lose you for good and he realized that now. It was now your turn to be strong for him, that's the only thing you can do. You can lie and tell him that everything will be alright, and falsely assure him that you'll see him again, but you both know already that only fate will determine the outcome.   
"Dan, you need to have faith in yourself and in your plan and in the police. I need you to have faith, because if you don't than I won't. We need to both be strong for this to work, please." He nodded and you gave him a small kiss on the cheek. He sighed and leaned his head against yours. You both sat in silence for a couple of minutes before he began to talk again.   
"I should probably get dressed, I just want this all to be over." You patted his knee and he got up to go get dressed. While he was getting dressed you grabbed your phone out of your purse and turned it back on. Your heart was racing, you didn't know what kind of texts Christopher had sent you, and you honestly didn't want to read them.   
After it loaded up your notifications went crazy. There were about 20 unread messages from Christopher, but you didn't bother to read the older ones, they were most likely just the same shit he sent all the other times.   
The last text is what sent your nausea over the edge, causing you to get up and run to the bathroom to vomit profusely. It petrified you and made you sick and you were praying at this point that Dans plan would work.   
Dan had ran after you into the bathroom and was holding your ponytail away from your face with one hand while holding your phone and reading the text in his other hand. His whole body was shaking with what could have either been anger or revulsion.   
**"Hey sweetheart. Just letting you know I've got everything prepared for today, the whole room is set up just the way I like it. Since I'm in a pretty good mood today, I'll give you some tips. Don't struggle, it won't end well for you. Don't try to take off the blindfold, you don't want to see what's in the room. Don't argue, I hate that shit. And again, don't tell anyone or else everyone you love will get hurt.  
Can't wait!"**  
That is what the text said, it made you even more terrified about it Dans plan didn't work. What did Christopher have prepared, what was he going to do to you? You couldn't even begin to think up the crazy shit that he had planned, and you didn't want to.   
"I'll kill him, I'll fucking murder him." Dan was saying it to himself over and over as he stared at your phone screen, reading and rereading the text.

  
A couple hours had passed and it was time. Dan had called the station about thirty minutes ago and they told him they were heading out. You had gotten a text from Christopher that said he should be outside in ten minutes, you hoped that the police had showed up before him and were already in place.   
"I'm going to head out now, alright. God just, be safe okay. I love you." Dans voice was shaky as he spoke, he was hugging you, his chin resting on your shoulder so you couldn't see his face, but you knew he was crying, or at least trying to hold it in.   
"I'll try. I love you too." He kissed you hard before turning quickly to leave. He didn't want you to see him crying, he was still trying to be strong.   
You waited for Christopher's text that said he was there and took a deep breath. You could honestly pass out from the immense amount of fear that you felt. But you tried to hide it, because that's what Christopher wanted. He loved when you were scared, he get some sick thrill out of it, he wanted you to feel helpless because that's what made him feel strong.

You walked down to the front of the building and waited outside, looking around for his car. He had texted you and told you that he was there a minute ago, and it seemed like the walk down to the front took hours instead of a few minutes. Your legs were wobbly and it was like you could see where you were going, but you also couldn't. You were focused on nothing at all, your mind was blank. You felt nothing, not fear or nausea, not panic or sadness.   
You couldn't even feel the ground beneath your feet. Every step you took felt like you were walking on air. You didn't know what created this feeling, or why you had it. You often times related this feeling with being in a euphoric state of mind, and you were anything but that.   
You were out front, the humid air causing sweat to almost immediately see up on your forehead as you looked around. You weren't particularly looking for Christopher, part of you was hoping that maybe he had gotten into a car accident or something on his way here. You were looking for the cops, even though you knew they were in undercover vehicles, you thought that maybe they'd be easy to spot, but they weren't.   
As you were looking, a shiny black car with tinted windows pulled up in front of you. The passenger window rolled down and your stomach dropped when you saw that it was Christopher driving the car.   
"Well, I didn't think you'd actually be waiting for me. I'm flattered. Now get in the car, we've got a long drive ahead of us." Your hand was shaking as you reached out to grab the handle. Your whole body was trembling with fear as you climbed into the car. You slammed the door shut after you were in and put on your seatbelt. He quickly drive off and you peaked a few glances in the side mirrors to see if any cars were following, not that you'd know if they were police vehicles or not. There was a red car and a black car, and you could only hope and pray now that they were the police. "You're not very talkative now that he's not around. Well, I'm not going to talk to myself this whole time, so I'm giving you a few minutes to think of something to say."   
"I have nothing to say to you." It hasn't even been a full second after you said that when you saw his hand lift up, you closed your eyes and then all you felt was a flash of hot stinging pain across your cheek. You clenched your teeth and fought back the urge to cry, you were strong, at least that's what you wanted him to think.   
"When I tell you to do something, you're going to do it. I don't have the patience for your attitude, so if I were you I'd cut it out." You turned toward the window, trying hard to ignore the flaming hot burn on your cheek that still hasn't subsided. You looked into the side window again and happily saw the red and black car still following. If it were anyone else they would have went around or they had went a different direction already. You were being hopeful now, but it was all you could do at this point.

Christopher had been driving for a couple hours now and every few minutes you'd look into the mirror and happily see that those same two cars were following behind you.   
He finally stopped on the side of the road that was lined with over grown trees and shrubs on both sides.   
"We're here. Get out now." You hesitated, looking back to the mirror. The red and black car had stopped a couple of yards behind Christopher. He hadn't noticed yet, you were worried about what would happen if he did. "Excuse me you fucking imbecile, I told you to get out of my fucking car." You unhooked your seatbelt and got out of the car slowly. Christopher quickly ran around to your side and put his arm around your neck, tight enough so that it was hard for to breathe, but not tight enough to strangle you. "Who are they? And don't act like you don't know, I've watched you watching for them. I know they've been following us, who are they!" He was almost growling, his arm tightening now, restricting your breathing. "Fine, you don't want to answer, we'll figure it out, come on." He kept his arm around your neck, pushing you to start walking towards the cars. His arm only loosened around your neck when you'd start to drag your feet, you'd take a tiny gasp of air and it would quickly be cut off. He only did it so that he wouldn't be inconvenienced and have to drag you or carry you.   
When you got closer to the cars you heard a clicking and then something cold and hard being pressed against your forehead. He had stopped a few feet away from the cars and you were shocked at how many officers had piled into them. Five climbed out of the red one and four more out of the black one right behind it.   
"Don't move! Put the gun down and let the girl go!" The officer in front shouted to Christopher, him and all the other officers had their guns drawn and were aiming.   
"You fucking bitch, I knew it, I should have killed you in the fucking car." He pulled the trigger and it clicked. His arm tightening more around your neck. He started laughing hysterically. "Guess that's not it. Shall we keep going?" You tried to shake your head no but you were running out of strength. The few gasps of air weren't enough for you.   
"Just let her go!" The front officer screamed again, another officer, a female this time, ran to the car. You strained yourself to stay focused on the officers in front of you, but your vision was blurring around the edges, fading to a dark grey color.   
The gun clicked again, you squeezed your eyes shut, the sound of him laughing echoing in your head.   
"I know I put a bullet in here. This is fun, it's like Russian roulette." You attempted to swallow back the bile that was building in your throat to no avail. His arm was like a boa constrictor and your vision continued to fade.   
"Don't make us shoot!" You heard the officer shout, then the sound of multiple guns cocking back.   
"There's more of a chance that you'll hit her than me, go for it." You could only imagine the menacing grin that had spread across his face as he said this.   
You were struggling now, as if you were drowning and trying to keep your head above the water. You didn't know how much longer you could take it though, how much longer you could fight.   
That's when you heard a gun fire from behind you, then the sharp intake of breath from Christopher as his body jolted, his arm tightening once more before completely releasing. You both fell to the ground, you were gasping for air and a warm dark crimson puddle started to form underneath Christopher, slowly spreading towards you.   
You were still gasping for air when two male officers came over to help lift you off the ground. Voices all mingled with each other, you couldn't make out anything that anyone was saying. They carefully guided you into the back of the red car and placed a thin blanket over you. You weren't really cold, but it gave you a feeling of security and somehow this thin navy blue blanket made you feel safe. You laid down in the back seat and curled up underneath it, still trembling with fear. You tried to take deep breaths, to fill your lungs with the air it needed, it was painful. It was like a phantom arm was still wrapped around your neck, and you couldn't get rid of the feeling.   
"Ma'am, your boyfriend is on the phone." One of the officers were leaning into the car, the door was wide open allowing what little breeze there was to enter the car.   
"Can I... Talk to him..." Your voice was raspy and you took little painful gasps between words. The officer smiled to you, handing you her phone.   
"____, are you alright? They told me what happened. I'm so sorry." He spoke quickly, almost stumbling over his own words he tried to get them out so fast. You didn't really know why he was apologizing, if he hadn't thought of the plan you'd still be with Christopher, and God only knows what would be happening.  
"I'm alright.... Just a little... Shook up." Even now you were lying to him, you weren't alright, you were far from alright. But you didn't want him to be even more worried about you than he already was. You lied because you cared.   
"Alright, well, I don't want to kill the officers battery, so I'll see you soon. I love you." He didn't give you the chance to even say it back before hanging up. Maybe he just didn't want you to struggle to say it, he didn't want you to hurt yourself.   
You handed the phone back to the officer and stared up at the roof of the car. Your one eye was still blurry around the edges and wouldn't focus, your neck was sore and stiff. But you were alive and safe, and Dan and the rest of the grumps were all alive and well, and that's all that mattered.   
A paramedic walked over to the car and tapped on the window to get your attention. His eyes kept looking from you, then over to the ambulance.   
"Do you need...to examine me?" You asked when he didn't speak. He shook his head no and you sat up slowly to look through the windshield at what he was looking at. You squinted, trying to focus your blurry eye on the object next to the ambulance.   
"Uhm... You don't have to, but he wants to tell you something. He doesn't have long, if you'd like I can relay the message..." He seemed awkward, uneasy telling you basically that the man who attempted to kill you wanted to talk to you. You put one foot out onto the road, contemplating if you should really go over to talk to him. But then again, if you didn't go you'd forever be curious about what he had to say.   
"Alright...take me...to him." The paramedic bit his lip as he stepped back allowing you to get out.   
You wrapped the blanket around your shoulders, like a cape and took shaky steps over to the ambulance. As you got closer, your eyes focused more. You saw the gurney, and a body covered by a white sheet. You walked a few steps closer and saw the oxygen mask around the persons face and the blood was now visible, soaking through the sheet. You knew this person was Christopher, and as much as you hated him, as much as he hurt you, you still didn't like to see him like that, you didn't like to see anyone that way.   
His labored breaths were visible under the sheet as you got right up close. A low sigh escaped your lips as he turned to look at you. His eyes were partially glazed over, you could see the menacing grin through the oxygen mask. His lips were stained red from the blood that he had coughed up after being shot.   
You stood next to the gurney, arms length away, waiting for him to speak.   
"I didn't think you'd actually do it..." His voice was weak, he tried to laugh but ended up coughing, you saw the blood splatter inside the mask and your stomach wrenched. "I just wanted to let you know... It's not over...it'll never be over...I'll haunt you forever...you'll never get rid of me..." You started stepping back, he was laughing hysterically and coughing at the same time. Blood splatter was all over the inside of the mask, slowly running back down to his mouth. No matter how far you stepped away, you could still see him, still hear his maniacal laughter, you watched his chest jolt and jerk, then his laughter died down, a group of paramedics surrounded him, blocking him from your view. The sound of his laugh continued to ring through your ears, the menacing smile that you last saw was imprinted into your mind. You lost count of how far you stepped, your eyes fixed now on the group of what was now blurry paramedics in the distance. You bumped into an officer and quickly turned around.   
"I-I'm so...sorry..." Your breathing was now rapid, you took quick, tiny intakes of air which hurt worse than trying to take in a lung-full.   
"We've gotta get you out of here, you're only getting worse. Come on." The officer motioned for a couple more to come over and they helped you into the red car. They had to help buckle you in you were shaking so much, the image of Christopher still in your head, the phantom arm squeezed tighter around your neck. You began to cry only making it harder for you to breathe, you were hyperventilating, the officer who was sitting in the back with you looked panicked and tried to help by patting your back and holding your hand.   
"Shh shh, do you want me to call your boyfriend?" She reached into her pocket and you quickly shook your head.   
"N-no, I don't...want him...t-to hear me like this." She nodded and withdrew her hand, then leaned forward to dig through the glove compartment and retrieved a few napkins.   
"We'll be there in a few minutes, here's some napkins if you want to wipe your eyes." She handed them to you and you quickly wiped your tears, then used another napkin to blow your nose. You clenched the napkins in your hands trying to calm yourself. Your hyperventilating has toned down to big gasps for air and sniffling.   
As the officer driving pulled up outside of the Grump Space your heart fluttered. The female officer gave you a few quick pats on your back before getting out of the car and walking around to your side. She opened your door and you slowly climbed out, she held out her hand for assistance, your legs were still wobbly and you quickly grabbed her hand to steady yourself.   
"You're going to be alright?" She asked and you nodded in response.   
"Thank you..." You said in between sniffles. She gave you a tight hug and then watched as you made your way up to the door.   
You saw the blinds open slightly and quickly close, and when the door opened your heart almost melted.   
Dan was standing in the doorway, a smile spread across his face. He waved to the officers behind you, and as you turned around you saw the red car driving off.   
Turning back around to face Dan, his arms were open wide, a warm embrace just waiting for you. You moved quickly, wanting to be in his arms, needing him to hold you close, that's when you'll know you're safe and everything is over. That's how you'll know that everything will be okay.


	14. Chapter 14

_ One Day After _

You jolted awake out of a deep sleep, sweat covering your forehead and dried drool matting your hair and making it stick to your face. You reached beside you and began to worry when you felt that Dan wasn't there. The room was still dark, so it had to be nighttime. You looked over to the window and saw that Dan had closed the curtains to darken the room so you could sleep in.   
You sighed and let your feet dangle over the edge of the bed, stretching your legs and toes before getting up to go into the bathroom.   
You stared at yourself in the mirror and yawned before splashing some water on your face and pulling the hair away. You grabbed your toothbrush off the counter and started to brush your teeth, you didn't even notice how hard you were brushing them until you spit in the sink and saw blood. You quickly rinsed your mouth out, swishing the water around and spitting, repeating the process a few more times to make sure your mouth was clear.   
You brushed your fingers through your hair, trying to get rid of the knot in the back. You heard a knock on the door and opened it slightly to peak out.   
"Good afternoon darling, how are you feeling?" You pulled the door back quickly and went straight to him. He wrapped his arms around you and kissed the top of your head.   
"I don't know how I feel, I just need you." You whispered into his chest. He placed his hands on your cheeks and made you look up at him.   
"I'm here, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." He leaned in to the kiss you and you put your arms around his neck, you wanted to keep him there. You didn't want the kiss to end. When it finally did he pulled back and chuckled. "Hmm, you hungry? I made you some eggs, your favorite, sunny side up. Then you can take a shower, we can stay in and watch movies, order a pizza?" You smiled and hid your face in his chest. He didn't try to rush you, he stood there, petting your hair, humming quietly.   
You felt so lucky to have him, he cared so much about you, he would do anything for you. You also felt bad though, he had called Arin in the morning to tell him that he won't be able to make it in for a couple of days because I needed him. Everyone understood and they had prerecorded episodes that they upload, but it still made you feel horrible keeping him from doing his work.   
This had you thinking of your own channel, Christopher had made you lose subscribers, and you didn't even know if you'd have a channel by the time you got back on.   
"I need to get back to my computer, I need to fix what he caused." You emphasized the "he", a look of disgust flashed over Dans face when you said it, then he sighed.   
"Can't you just take a break. Come on, eat your breakfast." He gave you a small push to get you to walk and you rolled your eyes as you both walked into the front room.   
The smell of eggs and bacon filled your nose and your stomach growled in response. You hadn't eaten anything at all the day before, so you were starving now. You quickly moved to sit down and started cutting at the eggs with your fork, Dan sat across from you and watched while you ate.   
"I really think I need to get back to work, I'm fine." You said after swallowing a piece of the egg. Dan shook his head and ran his hand through his hair.   
"You're not fine, you were tossing and turning all night, I'm worried about you. Maybe you should see someone to talk about it..." He bit his lip as he waited for your response. This hurt you, he thought you were crazy, you needed a therapist or a psychiatrist. You didn't need any of that, hell, it's only been a day.   
"I'm not seeing anyone to talk about it. I need time to get over it. It just happened yesterday, Jesus Christ." You pushed your plate away, you had barely eaten and now you just weren't hungry anymore. "I'm taking a shower, just leave me alone." What he said had really gotten to you.   
"____, I didn't mean it like that." He got up out of his chair and stood in front of you, putting his hands firmly on your hips to keep you from walking away again. "I just want you to be okay."   
"I'll be fine... I want to take my shower." You said sternly and he dropped his hands sighing dejectedly. He stepped back to let you walk.

  
_ Two Days After _

Dan shook you awake, your eyes shot open and you saw the moon illuminating him from behind. Your heart was beating fast and the blankets were tangled up around you.   
"Another nightmare?" He asked and you nodded. It was the second time this happened in the same night.   
The same nightmare had been keeping you and Dan awake all night. You had offered the first time to sleep on the couch and he quickly rejected your idea, his reasoning being that he'd be able to help you quicker if you were next to him.   
"I'm sorry Dan." You didn't like the fact that you were keeping him awake, it made you feel horrible. You wished that you had some sleep medicine at hand to help the both of you.   
"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. Let's try to get back to sleep." You curled up next to him while he adjusted the blankets to cover you both again. He brushed your hair with his fingers and sang softly and it helped. You thought of happy things like cats, and puppies, and Dan. You soon fell asleep again, and Dan quickly after he realized you were sleeping again.

You didn't have another nightmare that night, when you finally woke up the sun was shining directly on your face. You rubbed your eyes and rolled over, happy to see that Dan was still there. You gave him a small kiss on the cheek, not wanting to wake him, before sitting up.   
You weren't fully rested, but you felt good enough to make Dan breakfast and a pot of coffee.   
He must've felt the bed shift when you got out of it, his hand searched the bed and he sat upright, now fully awake.   
"You can go back to sleep, it's alright." You gave him a smile and he sleepily smiled back before dropping back to his pillow, pulling the blanket up over his face to block the sun. He was adorable, everything about him, everything he did made you fall more in love with him.   
You walked out to the kitchen area and opened the blinds above the sink to let the sun in. It was a beautiful morning and you wanted to enjoy it, although you weren't going outside anytime soon-you weren't ready for that-you could still take in the beauty from inside.   
You reached down in the cabinet to get a frying pan, you thought that making Dan a giant stack of pancakes would slightly help make up for keeping him awake all night. When you stood back up you glanced out the window, you thought that you had seen Christopher's car and him standing right next to it. You dropped the frying pan and stumbled back. Dan came running out of the bedroom to see what had happened. When he saw you curled up on the floor he immediately picked you up and put you back on your feet.   
"What happened? Did you get hurt?" He asked quickly while checking you over to make sure you weren't physically harmed.   
"I seen him... I did... Well I think I did." He walked you over to the couch and covered you up with the throw blanket that was draped over the back and went to get you a cup of coffee. He handed it to you and you held the cup close to your chest, trying to somehow absorb the warmth that was emanating from the cup.   
"____, there's no way you could have seen him. I didn't want to tell you, but, he died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. He's gone." You dwelled on the fact that Christopher had died, that's what you had wanted... But now that he is why did you feel so bad? You felt guilty, like it was somehow your fault that he had been shot, not his or the fact that he was strangling you or holding a gun to your head.   
The last thing that he said to you was now swirling through your mind, replaying over and over in your head, you could hear it clearly. "He said he would haunt me... He said...." You mumbled to yourself. Dan shook his head and patted your knee.   
"Babe, you didn't see him. It's your mind playing tricks on you. Like, you know, I don't like anything scary, but you make me watch horror movies, and I swear that at night I see Michael Myers or fucking Jason Vorhees standing in the corner of the bedroom. It's not real." He chuckled and your lips pulled up in a small smile. "Now, let's go make some breakfast, alright." You nodded and he grabbed your hands and playfully pulled you up off the couch and over to the kitchen.   
Dan had closed the blinds and turned on his Rush playlist to keep your mind off of what just happened. You both sang along to the songs as you mixed the pancake batter and he got the frying pan ready.

The rest of the day went really well, you didn't have a single bad thought. Dan kept you occupied throughout the day by watching movies and playing video games or board games. He had offered to you to have Arin and Suzy come over for some type of double date, but you told him you weren't ready to face other people yet, you were worried you might break down in front of them, and you didn't want them to see you like that. Dan agreed and quickly went on to another activity before you had time to think of anything bad.   
He really was a god send, you didn't know what it would be like if you had to suffer through this alone at your own apartment. You didn't really know what you were going to do about the whole situation, at this point you were strapped for cash and you didn't even know how you'd pay rent. You didn't want to go back to your apartment, it would be a constant reminder of Christopher, but you didn't have the money to get a new apartment either.   
One thing you did know is that you and Dan weren't ready to move into an apartment together, especially the same apartment that your ex resided in, you couldn't do that to them, and you couldn't do that to yourself.   
You hoped that by the time you were mentally better you could face the fans that Christopher had wrongfully turned against you and explain to them what really happened and get them all back. It scared you a little bit, you were sort of a coward when it came to personally facing your fans. You never thought that you'd have to do it, have to explain your personal life to your fans. That kind of stuff shouldn't be important to them, you weren't really ready to come out in the open about your relationship with Dan out of fear of criticism and hate from them. But you needed to tell them that there are no hard feelings between any of the Grumps or you and the Grumps. You needed to let them know so you could get them back, and you hoped that the Grumps would help you with this.

 

_ Five Days After _

It was your first night without a horrible nightmare. You hadn't woken up in the middle of the night, you still had a nightmare, but it wasn't like the other ones. It was just his voice and the quiet clicking of the gun, but no image to go along with it. Once it had started though, your subconscious mind had forced it to go away by thinking of happier things, like Dan and your time in New Jersey with him. You were glad to know that your subconscious mind was stable enough to try to rid itself of those thoughts. If only your conscious mind was able to do the same.   
You and Dan had slept in since you were both able to. You finally woke up at twelve in the afternoon and Dan woke up an hour later.   
Not knowing what to do with yourselves, you ended up lounging across the couch watching cartoons while he worked on some songs for his band. It was relaxing, being able to lay there, not worried about anything. Your mind didn't drift off to some horrible thought either, which gave you a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe you were getting better, hopefully better enough to soon go back to working.   
"So, maybe you want to go out to eat or something?" Dan finally said. You had been laying there in silence, daydreaming and thinking. Dad had broken your train of thought, but his question made you think of other things. More important things, like, if you were able to go outside and not worry or be paranoid about everything and everyone, than maybe you'll be fine enough to work on your videos and get things back to normal.   
"Yeah, I've kept you cooped up in here long enough, and I'm getting pretty tired of pizza and Chinese food." You never really realized how gross delivery pizza and Chinese food was until you got it four days in a row. It was cold by the time it came to your door and it wasn't even fresh.   
"It's not about me, but, yes the Chinese and pizza is getting old. How about you go get ready, do what ya gotta do and I'll wait here." You got up and ran to the bedroom. You hoped he'd take you somewhere that you could get a cheeseburger and fries. You were craving it, you needed it. Not wanting to waste too much time, you threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, brushed the tangles out of your hair and threw it up in a ponytail, then ran back out to the front room.   
"Alright, I'm done! Come on!" Your steps were bouncy, you were excited to get actual food. You slipped on your toms and waited for Dan to tie his shoes. You tried not to seem impatient, but you were starving. You hadn't eaten what you'd call real food and now you were going to.   
"Okay okay, I'm ready, let's go." He said, grabbing his keys off the counter and walking out behind you.   
He still kept his arm tightly around your waist, even though there was nothing to worry about, he had already said there wasn't. Maybe it was just something that he had gotten used to doing whenever you both left the house, now he just did it out of habit.   
He didn't look wary now, the danger was gone, he didn't look over his shoulder or cautiously turn the corners now either.   
You were both smiling, happy to get out of the apartment. You were ready to leave Christopher and everything that had happened to behind you, you couldn't let it hold you back anymore.   
As you and Dan walked outside, you paused for a second, letting the sun shine on your face and your arms. You inhaled deeply through your nose, taking in the scents around you. Exhaust from idling cars, the overfilled dumpster a couple feet away, cheap perfume from the lady who just walked past you, and a burning cigarette. As you started walking again you realized it probably would have been a better idea to 'take in the scents' outside of the restaurant.

You stared out the window at the sun setting behind the strip-mall across the street. Dan had taken you to a small diner that wasn't very popular. It was mainly filled with seniors who looked as though they had just gotten done playing bingo.   
It was nice, it had a 50's feel to it, and one Elvis' songs were playing quietly. The food was nice, although it didn't taste at all like Fudruckers, it was better than what you had the past couple days.   
Dan had told you that he'd take you somewhere better when he was absolutely sure that everything was over, he wasn't worried about you getting hurt or anything, he just wanted to keep you out of the spotlight a little longer. It was a nice thing to do, you didn't know if you'd be able to handle being bombarded with questions about what had happened, because you didn't really understand what had happened yourself. You didn't even know what you would say or how to explain it to anyone.   
"You want to take a walk on the beach, maybe watch the sun set? I think it would be nice..." It sounded nice, the ocean breeze would be relaxing and walking along the beach with Dan watching a sunset, nothing seemed more romantic than that. Well, you could think of something more romantic, but at the moment nothing could be more romantic.   
You nodded, and Dan pulled some cash out of his wallet to pay for the meal and tip the waitress.

The car ride to the beach was nice and quiet, you had your window rolled down slightly and you stated out at the setting sun and the moon that was slowly coming into view. It seemed as though it was following you, the moon. It would go out of view behind clouds, only to have a brighter aura around it once it reappeared.   
You listened to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore as you and Dan walked hand in hand across the sand. You had taken your shoes off, walking in the sand with them on was a hassle. It felt cool and soft beneath your feet, sometimes your feet would sink into spots and you'd stumble. Dan would laugh quietly to himself while helping you keep steady and you'd laugh along with him.   
When you both finally made it down to the shore line Dan stayed on the dry part and watched as you stood close to where the waves crashed. The water was slightly cold, but it was still enjoyable, the waves washing up around your ankles, soaking the bottom of your jeans.   
After you were done playing in the water you and Dan sat in the sand, watching as the last bit of sun slowly sank behind the horizon. The ocean air was getting a bit more cold, you shivered and Dan pulled you closer against him and rubbed your arm quickly to try to warm you up.   
"It's nice, being able to just sit here. You know?" Dan said, his voice only loud enough to be heard over the crashing of the waves. Your teeth were chattering, but you nodded. He chuckled softly and stood up. "Alright, come on. I don't want to keep you out here too long, you'll catch pneumonia."   
You sighed, not wanting to leave, it was so beautiful there. The way the moon reflected on the ocean, the sound of the waves, just, everything about it was gorgeous, you hated that you had to leave, but he was right. If you got sick you'd have to stay in the house again and you didn't want that.

You yawned as you walked into the apartment in front of Dan, the sea salt mist had made you tired. You didn't even bother to change into your pajamas, you kicked your shoes off and fell face down onto the bed with your feet hanging off the side.   
"Guess you don't want to stay up and watch movies with me?" Dan said jokingly. You heard his shoes get thrown to the side and his pants drop to the floor loudly with the belt still in the loops.  
"Nope, just sleep. Sleepy." You said groggily, your tired mind wasn't capable of putting together intelligent sentences. You moved, turtle like, as Dan made his way to the side of the bed where your head was once at. Dan tried to pull the blanket out from underneath your body, you didn't feel like moving, you were dead weight on top of it.   
"That's alright, I'll just get the blanket from the living room." He said to himself, and you felt the bed shake slightly as he got up.   
The last thing you remembered was Dan coming back in and the blanket being lightly draped over you. Dan whispered in your ear that he loved you, you wanted so bad to say it back, but you were so exhausted that you couldn't even open your mouth. He kissed behind your ear and you drifted off into a peaceful, quiet sleep.


End file.
